Submitting documents to the arbitration court in electronic form

Claims regarding disputes of an economic nature between entrepreneurs, as well as non-profit organizations within the framework of their business activities, must be filed in special courts - arbitration or arbitration. Claims filed there have their own requirements; if these are not met, the application will be returned or left without consideration.

Litigation is an issue where knowledge of the process and substantive law is indispensable. Few people undertake to enter into a legal battle alone - and rightly so. Due to the fact that disputes of an economic nature are often associated with significant amounts of money, we recommend not to take risks, but to seek help from an experienced lawyer who knows all the pitfalls of the arbitration process.

In what cases should you file a claim in arbitration court?

Arbitration courts hear cases of an economic nature. These institutions were created specifically to speed up the procedure and be able to attract judges with a narrower specialization. In addition to economic disputes involving entrepreneurs (individuals and legal entities), these courts also hear bankruptcy cases of individuals. At the same time, if you want to find a definition of an economic dispute, you will not be able to - the legislator has not given it.

Although arbitration courts are often called arbitrations, in essence they are not them. Arbitration is an arbitration court. It is not public, but private, and considers a narrower category of economic disputes - for example, an application for bankruptcy cannot be filed with an arbitration court.

So, on what issues can you file a claim in arbitration court? Here the jurisdiction is exclusive, which means that you can apply only to resolve those disputes that are defined by law. Cases directly within the competence of such courts:

• about bankruptcy;
• related to the creation, reorganization, liquidation of legal entities and individual entrepreneurs.
• disputes between participants of a legal entity and with the legal entity (corporate);
• related to the activities of depositories - persons who carry out activities to record rights to securities;
• related to the activities of state companies, state corporations, public companies;
• on the protection of intellectual rights - they are considered by a special court for intellectual rights (SIP);
• on the protection of business reputation.

In exceptional cases, claims can also be filed for other types of disputes. These include cases:

• on the establishment of legally significant facts in entrepreneurial activity - are considered not as a claim, but as a special proceeding;
• arising from administrative and other public legal relations in business activities - for example, disputes between entrepreneurs and the tax authorities;
• for the award of compensation for violation of reasonable deadlines for legal proceedings and execution of a court decision - compensatory proceedings;
• on assistance to arbitration courts.

If your claim contains several claims, at least one of which does not fall into the categories listed above, then the claims must be separated and considered in an arbitration court and a court of general jurisdiction separately. If it is not possible to separate them, they will all be considered by a court of general jurisdiction—there is no need to file for arbitration.

Which court should I file my claim in?

There are fewer arbitration courts than courts of general jurisdiction, and they are located according to the principle of economic zoning: there are more of them in the most active regions. If we talk about those courts in which claims are filed (that is, the courts of first instance), then they are arranged by subject.

Article 35 of the Arbitration Procedural Code of the Russian Federation states that a statement of claim is filed with the court of the subject at the location of the defendant-organization or at the place of residence of the defendant-individual entrepreneur. The location of a legal entity is the place of its registration.

But when it comes to economic disputes, contractual relations often take place. In the contract, the parties can enter into a special agreement, which states that all disputes that arise must be considered by a specific court. Such an agreement is called an arbitration agreement. The parties can choose any court on the territory of the Russian Federation, including arbitration (then this is an arbitration clause). The arbitration agreement or arbitration clause may be in a separate document.

Mandatory pre-trial settlement

If you are going to file a claim in arbitration court, you should know that you must try to resolve the dispute peacefully. The APC says that in the vast majority of cases, you first need to send a claim to the counterparty. The response period is 30 days. After it expires, if the party has not responded, you can file a lawsuit. Previously, this was allowed only if the recipient of the claim responded to the requirements contained in it with a refusal.

How do you know whether filing a claim is mandatory in your case? It will absolutely be required if your dispute does not fall into one of the following categories:

• cases on establishing legal facts;
• class actions - for example, a class action of shareholders under one DDU agreement;
• bankruptcy cases;
• compensatory proceedings;
• trademark or service mark protection cases;
• cases of challenging arbitration decisions;
• corporate disputes.

It is important not only to submit a claim, but also to do it correctly: so that later you have evidence of an attempt at pre-trial settlement, without which the arbitration process will not begin. The most accurate way is to send it by registered mail with a delivery notification and a list of the contents (if the contract specifies an address different from that specified in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, send a claim to both addresses).

You can hand the document to the secretary, asking him to sign and certify your copy of the claim; you can send it by email if this is the usual way of communicating with your counterparty.

What amounts should I expect?

In addition to the amount of the principal debt, you can additionally recover monetary compensation, which is provided for in the contract or specified in the law:

• Penalty.

  This may be a fine in a fixed amount and/or a penalty as a percentage of the contract price of the amount owed. Legal penalties are provided for certain types of contracts (lease, equity participation and others).

• Compensation for damages.

  This is not only real damage - the expenses that you had to incur due to the fact that you did not repay the debt on time, did not complete the work or did not deliver the goods, but also the income that you expected, but did not receive (lost profits).

• Interest on the use of someone else's money.

  Required by law for all types of contracts (unless otherwise provided by the contract). You can calculate percentages in .

• Compensation for legal expenses

  , including the cost of state duty and fees for your lawyer.

You cannot demand all compensation at once. Some of them cannot be obtained at the same time. For example, penalties and interest.

Important!

Debtors file petitions to reduce penalties and interest, and the courts reduce compensation at their discretion. To recover the maximum amounts, contact RosCo.

The process of filing a claim in the arbitration court

So, you were not satisfied with the results of the pre-trial settlement (if it was necessary) and you decided to file a claim in arbitration court. The first step is to determine the subject of the claim and calculate the amount of the claim, since claims in such cases are most often monetary. Next, you need to support your arguments with references to regulatory legal acts: the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation and relevant laws, depending on the nature of the dispute (for example, the Merchant Shipping Code, if your claim arises from a contract for the carriage of goods by sea). Applications that are not supported by references to legal norms are returned to the applicant.

What should the content of a claim in court consist of? This is determined by Article 125 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, according to which it is necessary to indicate:

• name of the court to which the claim is filed;
• the name of your organization or your name, the location of the organization or your place of residence, date and place of birth, place of work or date and place of state registration as an individual entrepreneur, telephone numbers, faxes, email addresses, as well as the name of the defendant, his location or residence;
• your demands against the defendant, supported by references to the regulatory framework, and if you bring a claim against several defendants at once - demands against each of them;
• the circumstances on which you base your claims and the evidence supporting them;
• the cost of the claim (and such claims are usually subject to valuation) and how you calculated it;
• information that you sent a claim to the counterparty (only if you can prove it);
• information about measures taken by the court to secure property interests before filing a claim - for example, the court may freeze your debtor’s account;
• list of documents you are attaching.

We've decided on the content. You can send a claim to the court in the traditional way: write it on paper by hand or print it in three (for the court, the defendant and for you) or more (if there are several defendants) copies and take it to the court yourself.

If this is not possible, then you can send a statement of claim by registered mail with a list of attachments and notification. Moreover, it is mandatory to send one of the copies to the defendant, which will subsequently need to be confirmed.

A number of documents must be attached to the application in order for it to be accepted for consideration. When filing a claim, do not forget to prepare:

• a receipt from the post office confirming the sending of the statement of claim and the documents attached to it to the defendant;
• payment order to pay the fee for consideration of the application - is established by Article 333.21 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and depends on the price of the claim;
• documents confirming the circumstances on which the plaintiff bases his claims;
• copies of the certificate of state registration as a legal entity or individual entrepreneur;
• a current extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities or Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs in relation to you and the defendant - it must be received no earlier than a month before the filing date;
• power of attorney to sign the claim, if it is submitted by an authorized person.

You will also need documents confirming your compliance with the pre-trial procedure - for example, notification from the mail that the defendant has received your claim.

How to file a claim in arbitration court online

The Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation provides for the opportunity to file a claim also in electronic form through the “My Arbitrator” platform. You can enter it through the Unified Government Services Portal; to do this you need to be a registered user.

Then there are two options for the development of events, depending on what type of documents you will attach. Firstly, these can be electronic images of documents, and secondly, directly electronic documents.

Electronic images of documents - PDF, DOC and other file formats. They are signed with a simple electronic signature - in fact, there is no signature, they mean the presence of a login and password. To file a claim electronically, you need to register on the State Services website (to do this, you need to go to the MFC with your passport).

From there, if necessary, you will be redirected to “My Arbitrator”, where you will fill out an electronic application form and attach scans of documents. The only disadvantage of such a system is that the court may subsequently request original documents.

Filing a claim in the form of an electronic document is considered more reliable. Such a document has no physical counterpart; it is an original and signed with a qualified electronic signature. What does this signature represent? This is your protected individual code, confirmed by a special certification center, and in simple words - a flash drive with the program in which the document is created.

When you click the “sign” button, the document is encrypted with your code and automatically sent to a certification center, which either confirms it or rejects it if there is something wrong with your signature. Then the certification center itself sends this document to the recipient (in our case, to the arbitration court), which also has such a program. In it he sees a document and a mark from the certification center.

Filing a claim in arbitration court is a matter that requires compliance with a number of nuances. Now everything is as automated as possible - you can file a claim online, as well as continue to monitor the progress of the arbitration process in your case.

Sources:

Territorial jurisdiction under Article 35 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation

Form and content of the statement of claim submitted to the arbitration court

The amount of state duty for filing a claim

Portal "My Arbitrator"

Limitation period and how much will the state fee cost?

The amount of the state fee for filing an application with the arbitration court depends on the subject of the claim. It is set in a fixed amount or as a percentage of the cost of the claim (Article 333.21 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

The state fee is paid before filing a claim in court. It is calculated as follows:

• for a cost less than 100,000 – 4% of the price, but not less than 2,000 rubles;
• up to 200,000 – 4,000 rubles + 3% of the cost over 100,000 rubles;
• no more than 1 million rubles – 7,000 + 2% of the amount over 200,000 rubles;
• no more than 2 million rubles – 23,000 + 1% of the amount for 1 million rubles;
• over 2 million – 33,000 + 0.5% of the value of the claim, over 2 million, but not more than 200,000 rubles.

The state fee is paid before applying to the arbitration judge. Otherwise, the claim will remain without consideration. If the court makes a decision in favor of the plaintiff, then all costs are reimbursed by the debtor.

The deadline for filing an application with the arbitration court is 3 years. But many are interested in when to count it. If the contract provides for a deadline for fulfilling financial obligations, then the period must be calculated from the first day of the delay.