The issues of dispute resolution in Belarus in the sphere of business and in the sphere of interests of individuals are rightly of interest to representatives of the business community and private clients, as participants in disputes risk their finances and reputation. It is not always necessary to resolve disputes in the courts, in many cases there is a chance to resolve disputes without a trial: with the help of the claim procedure, mediation.
Dispute resolution before trial in Belarus
In disputes between organizations and (or) individual entrepreneurs, before going to court, you need to make an attempt to settle the dispute yourself. To do this, there is a claim-based pre-trial procedure and mediation. Another procedure may be established, for example, by the parties to the contract, or such an order is directly provided for by Belarusian legislation. For example, in the case of a dispute between an investor and the Republic of Belarus when making investments, the dispute is resolved through negotiations before the court.
When the contract and the Belarusian legislation do not provide for a different procedure for resolving the dispute before the court, and the parties to the contract have not abandoned the claim procedure in the contract, then in case of a dispute it is necessary to send a claim to the debtor before going to court.
When the claim procedure can not be used
The claim procedure for dispute settlement is not always mandatory. In particular, it is not applied when, in accordance with the law, the parties do not have the right to settle the dispute before the court. Such cases include disputes:
- on the exclusion of a participant from the number of participants of a business company,
- on the recognition of the transaction as invalid,
- on the recognition of the auction as invalid,
- on invalidation of the decision of the general meeting of participants of the economic company,
- on the pre-emptive right to purchase a share in the authorized fund of a business company, etc.
State officials and state bodies of the Republic of Belarus file statements of claim in court in the interests of other persons without observing the pre-trial claim procedure for dispute settlement.
In disputes involving individuals and between individuals, the pre-trial dispute settlement procedure is not always applied.
When it is impossible to abandon the claim pre-trial procedure
There are categories of disputes for which it is impossible to abandon the pre-trial claim procedure. In particular, these are disputes:
- According to the requirements for the carrier about automobile transportation within the Republic of Belarus, air and sea cargo transportation, etc.
- According to the requirements in connection with the use of the toll road, charging and collection of tolls.
What is a claim and how to send it in Belarus
A claim is a letter with demands to the debtor for the elimination of violations in the performance of his obligations under the contract. The requirements for the content of the claim are established in the legislation (paragraph 2 of the appendix to the Economic Procedural Code of the Republic of Belarus). In the claim, in addition to the requirements, you can offer ways to resolve the dispute. For example, offer to pay the debt in installments, transfer the dispute to the mediator for resolution, etc. The deadline for responding to a claim is set by the legislation: the debtor has one month to respond.
The claim is sent to the location of the organization or its branch, representative office – depending on the activity of which of these structures the claim arose. When the debtor is an individual entrepreneur or an individual, the claim is sent to his place of residence or place of stay. You can send a claim to the place of work of the debtor – an individual, if he does not live at the place of residence.
In the contract, the parties may provide for sending a claim by e-mail.
When it is possible to file a claim in court after the lawsuit
A statement of claim can be filed in court when a response to a lawsuit has been received with a refusal to satisfy the requirements and when the 1-month period set for the debtor’s response to the claim has expired and no response has been received from the debtor.
In addition to the evidence of the claim against the debtor, the statement of claim must be accompanied by evidence of sending the claim to the debtor and an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs (USR) about the location of the debtor when the response to the claim has not been received.
When evidence of sending a claim to the debtor has not been attached to the statement of lawsuit, the court will not begin to consider the case, but will leave the claim without movement and determine the time limit to present such evidence. If no proof of the claim is submitted within this period, the court will return the statement of lawsuit. You can resend the statement of claim to the court after trying to settle the dispute in a claim-based manner.
Dispute resolution in Belarus without trial by mediation
Mediation is a negotiation in which the parties to the dispute and the mediator participate. A mediator is an individual who has a certificate issued by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus. If you are interested in settling a dispute with the participation of a mediator, you need to send an appropriate proposal to the other party. Our experts will help you choose a suitable mediator from the state Register of mediators and make such a proposal.
Mediation is aimed at dialogue and working out a solution that is acceptable to both sides of the dispute. The parties themselves determine the period of mediation. This period should not exceed six months from the date of conclusion of the mediation agreement.
Meditation is conducted in Russian or Belarusian or in another language, with the participation of an interpreter.
In mediation, the parties formulate a range of controversial issues, independently propose solutions, discuss them. The mediator does not offer options for resolving the dispute, but manages the negotiations.
The information obtained during mediation is confidential.
When the parties have agreed on the terms of dispute resolution in Belarus, they conclude a mediation agreement. Such an agreement does not prevent you from going to court to resolve the dispute.
Dispute resolution in court in Belarus
In the court of the Republic of Belarus, disputes on which the debtor recognizes the claims, but does not fulfill and on which it does not recognize the claims, are considered in different ways. When the debtor recognizes the creditor’s claims (this is usually evident from the debtor’s response to the claim or the claim is based on documents that confirm the debt), the creditor’s claim is considered in an expedited manner, without proceedings and summoning the parties to court. This procedure is called writ production (a part of litigation in Belarus).
Writ proceedings in the Economic Court
Disputes and litigation in Belarus between organizations and individual entrepreneurs are considered in the economic court.
The term of consideration of the case in the economic court of first instance is 20 working days. The state fee that must be paid before filing an application to the court is from 2 to 7 basic units.
After consideration of the case and satisfaction of the claimant’s claims, the court issues an enforcement document: a ruling on a court order. It comes into force from the moment the court makes it. It can be immediately sent for enforcement.
The list of requirements that can be considered in writ proceedings is limited (Article 220 of the CPC). A number of requirements cannot be considered in writ proceedings. In particular, these are claims for the reclamation by the owner of immovable property, for the fulfillment of obligations from the contract of assignment of the claim or transfer of debt (except in cases when the debtor has acknowledged the debt in writing).
Writ proceedings in a court that hears civil cases
Disputes involving individuals are resolved in a court that hears civil cases.
The requirements for which the court considers civil cases in the order of writ proceedings are defined in Article 394 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Belarus (CPC):
- the requirement is based on a notarized transaction,
- the requirement for alimony for minor children, not related to the establishment of motherhood and (or) paternity or the need to involve third parties,
- the requirement to recover in favor of the state the costs of maintaining children on state support, from the person obliged to reimburse such expenses,
- the requirement under the contract, which is concluded in a simple written form, means that it is not notarized.
In other cases, you need to file a statement of claim and participate in court sessions.
Before submitting an application to the court, you need to pay a state fee. Its rates are determined by the rates that apply to the consideration of claims of a property nature. This is 5% of the claim price, but not less than 2 basic values. The price of the claim is the amount that the recoverer collects or the value of the property or the amount of all unpaid alimony payments, but not more than a year.
The court considers disputes without holding a meeting and without calling the parties. The period from the receipt of an application to the court for the initiation of writ proceedings until the court issues a ruling on a court order is three days. A ruling on a court order is an executive document that comes into force after 10 days from the date of receipt of its copy by the debtor.
Claim proceedings in the Economic Court
The claim proceedings in the economic court are usually initiated by the recoverer, who is called the “plaintiff” in the claim proceedings. The debtor in the claim proceedings is called the “defendant”. The economic court considers economic disputes when the debtor does not agree and disputes the creditor’s claims.
The statement of claim must be sent to the court within the limitation period. The total limitation period is three years. Some claims have shorter or longer limitation periods. For example, according to the requirements of the contract of carriage of goods, the limitation period is one year. According to the requirements of the freight forwarding contract – 10 months.
As a general rule, the statement of claim is sent to the economic court at the location or residence of the defendant. In the Republic of Belarus, there is an economic court of the corresponding region in each region, and in Minsk there is an economic court of Minsk.
Certain requirements are set for the content of the statement of claim. The plaintiff may combine several claims in one statement of claim, if they are interconnected. When property claims are made (to recover money, property, etc.), it is necessary to calculate the price of the claim.
Package of documents
The statement of claim must be accompanied by a package of documents confirming the plaintiff’s claims, payment of the state fee, evidence of compliance with the pre-trial procedure for dispute settlement, when such an order is mandatory, a document confirming the legal status of a non-resident person and the state registration of an organization or individual entrepreneur.
To calculate the state fee to be paid before filing a claim, the price of the claim is converted into base values, since the state duty rates are set depending on the price of the claim, expressed in base values. For example, if the claim price is up to 100 basic units (up to 3,700 rubles). the state duty rate is 25 basic units (Appendix 15 to the Tax Code of the Republic of Belarus). The base value in September 2023 is 37 rubles. So, the amount of the state duty at such a claim price is 37 x 25 = 925 rubles.
As a general rule, the court considers the case in the first instance within a period of no more than two months from the date of the ruling on the appointment of the case for trial, and in exceptional cases, the term may be extended to four months. The court considers cases involving foreign persons who are abroad within a period of no later than seven months, unless otherwise established by an international treaty. In exceptional cases, the term of consideration of such a case may be extended up to one year.
The decision of the Economic court comes into force 15 working days after its issuance (Article 134 of the CPC). Prior to the entry into force of the decision, you can appeal on appeal.
We help resolve disputes in the following areas:
- corporate, commercial, antitrust disputes,
- disputes related to migration law,
- disputes concerning real estate rights,
- disputes involving financial companies,
- disputes between shareholders of the company,
- disputes arising from bankruptcy proceedings,
- disputes in the field of contract law,
- disputes in the field of debt collection,
- disputes between individuals (family law, inheritance law).
What kind of legal assistance we provide in the field of dispute resolution in Belarus:
- Developing a strategy to prevent conflict or dispute;
- Making claims and negotiating before going to court;
- Preparation of a package of documents for filing a case in court;
- Submission of a package of documents to the court;
- Representing your interests in court;
- Recognition of a foreign court decision in the Republic of Belarus;
- Legal support for the execution of a court decision in the Republic of Belarus/enforcement procedures;
- Participation in arbitration procedures.
Why choose us
Dispute resolution in Belarus is one of the main specializations of our law firm. Our lawyers speak English. Over the past 5 years, we have helped resolve more than 1,500 disputes. Deep understanding of the dispute resolution process in Belarus. We employ only experienced lawyers: some of them have more than 20 years of experience in the field. Fair pricing policy.
Contact us
If you have any questions in the field of dispute resolution in the Republic of Belarus – we will be happy to help you! Our many years of experience in assisting clients in dispute resolution will help you resolve any issues in this area.
Phone and email communication options are available for your convenience:
- +375293664477 (WhatsApp/Telegram/Viber);
- info@ambylegal.by.
