Application of electronic tools by participants in commercial proceedings

Abstract

The trend towards digitizing procedures involved in legal commercial proceedings is regularly analyzed on the pages of profile publications. Meanwhile, the practical application of electronic tools available to participants in commercial proceedings and commercial courts does not often receive the attention it is due, which creates difficulties in implementing them in real court proceedings. The author understands electronic tools as the mechanisms enshrined in the Russian Commercial Procedure Code that allow participants in commercial proceedings and commercial courts to perform procedural actions in electronic form and/or remotely. Having analyzed, systematized, and summarized the judicial practices formed by the Russian Constitutional Court, the Russian Supreme Court, the Court for Intellectual Property Rights, and commercial courts of appeal and cassation, as well as relevant publications, the author draws up a practical guide to the use of electronic tools for (a) obtaining information on the proceedings via electronic tools of communication and the Internet, (b) electronic access to case files in limited access mode or via the Court File service, and (c) remote participation in court hearings via web-conferencing (online hearings). This practical guide is necessary due to the lack of proper, uniform, and complete statutory regulation of the use of electronic tools by courts and participants of commercial proceedings. The necessary procedural actions are often performed on the basis of guides posted on the websites of commercial courts and/or in the ‘My Arbitr’ system. In this regard, drawing up a practical guide seems to be highly relevant, useful, and appropriate.