The number of simplified debt recovery claims in the Vitebsk region's economic court increased by a third

April 7, Vitebsk / Sergey Kotovichev - BELTA /. In the economic court of the Vitebsk region, plaintiffs have actively used the opportunity to recover small debts (up to Br3.5 million) through the simplified procedure of order proceedings, the head of the court's judicial practice department, Olga Kibisova, told a BELTA correspondent. This opportunity arose after the law "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Codes of the Republic of Belarus on Improving Economic Court Proceedings" came into force on January 31. In February-March, the number of applications for debt recovery, which are acknowledged by the debtor but not paid, increased by more than 35% compared to the same period in 2010. The economic court reminded that order proceedings now consider claims for the recovery of monetary funds, the demand for property, or the enforcement of claims against the debtor's property, which are undisputed (based on documents confirming the debtor's debt), or are acknowledged (not disputed) by the debtor but not fulfilled, or are filed for an amount not exceeding 100 basic units (up to Br3.5 million). This allows businesses to save on state duty when recovering debts, as the state duty for order proceedings is only from 2 to 3 basic units (from Br70 thousand to Br115 thousand). In total, from January to March, the regional economic court received over 970 applications for initiating order proceedings, which is 2% more than in the same period of 2010. 565 court orders were issued for an amount exceeding Br194 billion. In addition, with the entry into force of amendments and additions related to the improvement of economic court proceedings, the regional economic court noted a 3.4% increase in the number of returned lawsuits. In every third case of returning a lawsuit, the plaintiff ignored the need for pre-trial dispute resolution, and in another 22% of such cases, plaintiffs failed to pay the state duty in the established amount. -0-