The adoption by the lower house of the draft law proposed by the Supreme Court would amend Russia’s Civil Procedure Code, Commercial Procedure Code and Administrative Procedure Rules.

Educational requirements

Under the bill, only persons having higher legal education or postgraduate law degree may stand in court as parties’ representatives during civil or commercial proceedings except for the cases considered by magistrate judges or district courts. However, this requirement would not apply to trade union representatives in labor disputes, insolvency officers and patent agents.

Simplified procedure

The initiative would extend the number of cases heard under a simplified procedure in particular by increasing a threshold of claim amounts in money recovery cases. New requirements to identification of debtors would be fixed as well, the bill reads. The amendments are aimed to improve the quality of justice and caseload whilst maintaining principles of civil procedure.