The Vitebsk Region Economic Court will hold hearings using video conferencing

January 28, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. The Vitebsk Regional Economic Court plans to actively use video conferencing capabilities for remote case review. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by Oleg Kienko, Deputy Chairman of the Regional Economic Court. Today, the Chairman of the Supreme Economic Court of Belarus, Viktor Kamenkov, held a reception for citizens at the economic court using video conferencing for the first time. Video conferencing equipment and technology were introduced at the economic court in 2010. "Today, technical issues are fully resolved, so there are no obstacles to the active use of video conferencing not only for organizing citizen receptions but also for conducting court hearings," said Oleg Kienko. The regional court already has experience in conducting remote case reviews when the parties to the proceedings were located in different regional centers of Belarus. To organize a court hearing using video conferencing, the court notifies the parties to the case, as well as the relevant economic court, about the hearing. At the appointed time, the court organizes a real-time session, and the plaintiff and defendant have the opportunity to participate directly in the proceedings while being in different cities. In addition, on January 31, the law "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Codes of the Republic of Belarus on Improving Economic Proceedings" comes into force. It, in particular, provides for the possibility of submitting documents to economic courts in electronic form, while the requirement to submit a document on paper along with the electronic version remains mandatory. The Vitebsk Regional Economic Court is actively conducting explanatory work among both specialists and the general public on legislative changes, including the implementation of elements of electronic justice. All possible and accessible communication channels are used to promote legal norms, including traditional mass media. The main task of the economic court specialists is to minimize the possibility of problems arising for business entities when applying to the court under the changed legislation. -0-