MOSCOW, July 23 - RAPSI. The Third Commercial Court of Appeals postponed until July 30 Norilsk Nickel's appeal against the court ruling obliging it to provide Rusal with its corporate documents, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency.

The hearing of the appeal has been postponed as the applicant failed to enclose confirmation that a copy of the appeal plus the necessary documents had been delivered to Rusal.

Norilsk Nickel appealed the Krasnoyarsk Territorial Commercial Court's June 4 judgment which partially upheld Rusal's lawsuit.

The court ordered Norilsk Nickel to provide nine documents, but denied the plaintiff tax audit reports for 2009 and 2010 and financial statements for 2008 and 2009 and for the first six months of 2010. Rusal's request for the 2009 auditor opinion was also denied.

Earlier the court declined to involve Glencore International as a third party to the trial at the defendant's request.

Commenting on the motion Norilsk Nickel said it had "reasonable apprehensions that by demanding the corporate documents on the domestic and international metal products sale system, Rusal acts for the benefit of Glencore International, the company's direct rival on the nickel and copper production and sales markets and holder of a 35-percent stake in Xstrata, another major producer in this industry, and is negotiating a complete merger.

The defendant has also stated that Glencore International is a key Rusal shareholder and has access to Rusal information under an agreement between En+, SUAL Partners, Glencore International and Onexim.

This dispute has already been handled by the court, which sided with Rusal in its lawsuit in March 2011 and ordered Norilsk Nickel to supply it with all the requested documents, including the minutes of the 2009-2010 board meetings.

Rusal owns a blocking share in Norilsk Nickel. During the hearing, it explained that it required the documents so as to check the integrity of Norilsk Nickels management and to appraise the company's financial status without bias.

Norilsk Nickel is the world's largest nickel producer (18 percent of worldwide output) and palladium producer (nearly 50 percent of worldwide output). It is also a leading platinum producer (around 13 percent of worldwide output) and copper producer (around 2.5 percent of worldwide output). The company also produces cobalt, chrome, rhodium, silver, iridium, ruthenium, selenium, tellurium and sulfur.