On August 4, 2008, North-West Telecom Open Joint-Stock Company, Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, Thirteenth Arbitration Court of Appeal, and Federal Arbitration Court of the North-Western District signed an agreement on electronic data exchange in cases involving N.W.Telecom as a party in the arbitration procedure.

Under this Agreement, the arbitration courts will notify N.W.Telecom of the time and place of a session or a separate proceeding by sending writ copies by email, and send email messages containing the texts of petition (claim) progress deeds and of conclusive judgments passed. During one year, such electronic information exchange will be maintained in the test mode, i.e. the deeds will also be sent in the existing manner provided by the RF Code of Arbitration Procedure (by mail), and by the end of the year, the electronic procedure of notification of N.W.Telecom as a party in the arbitration procedure will be established.

According to N. V. Nemchinov, Director, Legal Support Department of N.W.Telecom, “North-West Telecom became one of the first communication companies to sign such an agreement. The necessity of broad use of telecommunication and information technologies in all sectors of government was repeatedly indicated by top officials of the Russian Federation, and in particular by A. A. Ivanov, Chairman of the RF Supreme Arbitration Court, by whose initiative the “Electronic Justice” project is being implemented. The agreement is one of the first steps in the development of the project, and its signing will enable N.W.Telecom to immediately receive information on the trial progress, which will help to reduce the time of the trial.”