Key takeaways:

On September 30, 2013 the President of Russia signed into law Federal Law No. 260-FZ on Amendments to Part Three of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. This law introduces important changes to Section VI of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation ("Private International Law") with effect from November 1, 2013. This law changes or clarifies the Russian law approach to a number of important private international law issues, including in particular the effect of "norms of immediate application" (overriding mandatory norms), public policy, and ascertainment of law applicable to contracts and non-contractual obligations. This update examines the most important changes being introduced.