Mandatory Pre-trial Procedure for the Settlement of Disputes in Civil Procedure (Analysis of the Application of Part 5 of Article 4 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation)

Abstract

The provisions of the arbitration procedural legislation on the pre-trial procedure for the settlement of the dispute are additional requirements to the filing to the court in comparison with civil procedural legislation. According to the legislator, on the one hand, these requirements encourage the independence of commercial organizations and individual entrepreneurs in the settlement of economic disputes, on the other hand, indicate the desire of the legislator to reduce the number of arbitration disputes and increase the effectiveness of justice. About three years have passed since the appearance of the norm in question and some conclusions can be drawn regarding its application by the courts. The authors of the article draw attention to the problematic aspects of law enforcement practice: categories of disputes when the application of pre-trial procedure is mandatory; compliance with the form, content, deadlines for submitting a claim; assessment by the court of the actions of the parties to resolve the dispute before going to court; overall effectiveness of the existing order. The authors conclude that the goal set by the legislator before the pre-trial procedure (an alternative pre-trial method for the resolution of disputes, designed to provide faster, less formalized and costly dispute resolution in comparison with the judicial process) is not achieved.