The amendments to the Civil Procedure Code adopted by the Milli Majlis on June 25 in the first reading are progressive in nature, according to comments of the Department for Electronic Court and Information Technologies of the Supreme Court of Azerbaijan due to criticism of the proposed innovations in mass media and social networks.

It should be added that the draft law has been developed on the basis of proposals made by courts of first and appeal instances; those by the Presidential Administration, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Economy, Bar Association, Confederation of Entrepreneurs, American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham), as well as allowing for the best practices of foreign courts and international courts and the recommendations of the World Bank’s “Doing Business” project.

The draft provides for “conceptual innovations that significantly change the philosophy of the Civil Procedure Code”.

“First of all, the stage of preparing the case for consideration was revised, and the proposed amendments are aimed at ensuring more effective consideration of cases during the court session. Filing the parties’ claims and evidence to another party and the court within a predetermined time frame, more reasonable preparation and presentation of their arguments will allow the court to more accurately examine positions of the parties and ultimately result in improving the quality of court decisions,” the commentary says.

Moreover, the rules for consideration of cases by the courts in some cases as a matter of written proceedings were defined to thus prevent improper delays in considering court cases.

Another innovation as set forth in the draft is the participation of process participants in civil proceedings through a video conference system, without the physical presence in the courtroom. Besides, the further expansion of the Electronic Court information system in line with the draft law will provide a faster and more convenient document flow and other benefits for its users.

During the session of the Parliament the provisions related to judicial fines were also clarified, a matter of wide debates among the legal community.

It is important to stress that the current version of the Civil Procedure Code stipulates fines against process participants for making protests aimed at delaying the trial. Besides, under Article 120 of the Code, the court may recover a certain amount from a party that has filed a deliberately unfounded claim or objections to the claim, or consistently hinders the proper and speedy consideration and resolution of the case.

In the meanwhile, the proposed wording stipulates that a party, its representative or a lawyer who has filed not only an unfounded claim but also an purely unfounded petition or complaint that openly prevents the proper and speedy consideration and resolution of the case, can be fined up to 500 manats.

It is obvious that the proposed amendment clarifies norms and even improves existing requirements and standards for recognizing a petition as unfounded. At the same time, the upper limit of the amount is determined to be withheld from the subject who abuses the right to file a petition. “The purpose of the amendment is precisely to exclude cases of artificial delay in the judicial process, and as a result – to enhance the efficiency of justice and more fully ensure the right of citizens to judicial protection,” the Supreme Court comments.

At the same time, the Supreme Court did not voice its attitude to the multiple increase in the amounts of state duties in court cases which also caused criticism in society.

Source: Turan News Agency