On December 28, 2010 FOSFA arbitration tribunal has recently rendered an award in favour of AstapovLawyers' client, one of the largest Ukrainian commodities traders, in an arbitration case initiated by a multinational commodities trader due to the alleged contamination of Ukrainian sunflower seed oil.

This case was a consequence of the Europe-wide scandal on alleged contamination of a number of shipments of Ukrainian sunflower seed oil. However, the Tribunal did not find in its Award whether any contamination had taken place. The arbitrators found this issue as unnecessary because the contract was on CPT port tank terms and thus did not obligate the seller to ensure the quality of the goods at loading into the vessel. The Tribunal had further found that since the respective parcel of oil was commingled with other parcels of oil at the buyer's warehouse prior to shipment by sea, there were no grounds for the buyer to claim against the seller.

AstapovLawyers International Law Group has an extensive expertise and outstanding track record in the field of commodities' arbitrations conducted under English law. This particular case was handled by AstapovLawyers international arbitration practice, in particular by Senior Associate Eugene Blinov and Managing Partner Andrey Astapov.

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