The scope of party autonomy under private international law in Armenia. Whether parties can choose and enforce foreign law as an applicable law to a contract in the Armenian courts upon the absence of foreign element as per RA Civil Code Article 1253?

Abstract

To avoid contradictions in interpretation and judicial practice and uncertainty in the legal framework, we suggest that the following amendments/additions be made into the Armenian legislation. Taking into account that until now, no applicable or related judicial practice has been established by the Armenian courts regarding the problem question raised in this Paper, we suggest that respective amendments/additions be made in the Civil Code. Particularly, we recommend that Articles 1253(1) and 1284(1) of the Civil Code shall be written as follows: Article 1253(1) “Unless otherwise provided by this Chapter the law applicable by the court to civil law relations with the participation of foreign citizens, including individual entrepreneurs, foreign legal persons and organizations not considered as legal persons in accordance with foreign law, stateless persons, as well as in cases where the object of civil rights is located abroad, shall be determined on the basis of this Code, other laws of the Republic of Armenia, the international treaties of the Republic of Armenia and international customary practices recognized by the Republic of Armenia.” Article 1284(1) “The contract shall be regulated by the law of the state-designated upon the agreement reached by the parties, regardless of the fact of the existence of a foreign element defined in the first provision of Article 1253 of this Code.”