Legal grounds for notarisation of a vehicle hire (lease) agreement involving individual entrepreneurs

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problematic issues of requirement of notarisation of a vehicle hire (lease) agreement involving individual entrepreneurs. The author emphasises the importance of compliance with the form of the contract.
 Article 799 of the Civil Code of Ukraine generally regulates the form of a vehicle hire (lease) agreement. This article provides for two necessary conditions that must be met when entering into a vehicle hire (lease) agreement involving an individual. Failure to comply with the prescribed form entails the nullity of the agreement.
 At the current stage, the current legislation does not regulate the issue of the requirement of notarising a vehicle hire (lease) agreement involving individual entrepreneurs. Given the lack of regulation of this issue at the legislative level, there is a variety of court practice.
 The unclear judicial interpretation, including at the level of the Supreme Court, and certain gaps in the legislation prompted the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court to issue its legal opinion on the conditions and circumstances that must be met by individual entrepreneurs when entering into a vehicle hire (lease) agreement only in writing without notarisation. It is necessary to be guided not only by the nature of legal relations. It is also important to consider the content of the legal relationship itself, as well as whether it is an economic relationship
 The article examines the case law of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, the Higher Commercial Court of Ukraine, the Civil Cassation Court, the Commercial Cassation Court, and the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. It is noted that the Grand Chamber's legal opinion on the interpretation of Article 799(2) of the Civil Code of Ukraine is significant in terms of legal application, but it does not address a certain gap in the current legislation.
 The author proposes to supplement Article 799 of the Civil Code of Ukraine with part 3 of the following content: «A vehicle hire agreement involving an individual entrepreneur, the parties to which are business entities, concluded for the purpose of using the vehicle by the lessee in his/ her business activity, is not subject to mandatory notarisation.»