News: Contract Law
Business contract law dispute 'leaves Ukraine without gas'
02 January 2009
Russian gas company Gazprom has cut off the country of Ukraine after a business contract law dispute, which emphasises the importance of training in this legislative area.
The disagreement surrounds renegotiations over the cost of the resource for 2009, the transit fees the country will receive for transporting it to the rest of Europe and outstanding payments of $2 billion (£1.37 billion).
Jonathan Stern, the director of gas research at the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, tells Reuters that Ukraine must learn to act in the "correct commercial manner" if a reoccurrence of this dispute is to be avoided on a yearly basis.
"Ukraine simply has to pay what it has agreed to pay when the contract says it should pay. This then avoids any repercussions," he states.
Last month, the Sutherland inquiry implicated a business contract law failure on behalf of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority as one of the issues which caused the Sats marking problems, further highlighting the importance of training in this area.
