Appeal proceedings. Lawyers from the Dispute Resolution practice spoke about some innovations in filing and considering appeals that businesses should pay attention to after the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) comes into force.

1. Creation of a single appellate body for review

Thus, from 01/01/2026, appeals against decisions of the economic court of the region (city of Minsk) will be carried out by the judicial panel of the Economic Court of Appeal, composed of three judges.

2. Deadlines for filing an appeal

Currently, the Code of Criminal Procedure establishes the general rule that an appeal must be filed no later than 15 working days after the court considering economic cases has adopted the appealed court decision at first instance.

Starting from 01/01/2026, an appeal or protest must be filed within 15 days after the decision is made or the person entitled to the appeal and (or) protest is served, at the request of such person, with the reasoning part of the decision.

3. Requirements for the content of the appeal

The CGS retains the general requirements of the current Code of Criminal Procedure for the content of an appeal.

However, from 01/01/2026, the appeal and the written materials attached to them are accordingly filed and (or) brought to the court of first instance with copies in the number of copies according to the number of persons participating in the case.

Consequently, the person filing the complaint will no longer be required to himself send copies of the appeal and its annexes to interested parties.

4. Leaving the appeal without progress

Currently, if, when filing an appeal, for example, a document confirming payment of the state duty was not attached, or the complaint was filed in violation of the CPC requirements for its content, then the appellate court returned the appeal.

The CGS enshrines the right of the appellate court to leave a complaint without progress if:

when filing an appeal, the requirements for procedural documents were not met (Article 100 of the Civil Code);
there is no indication of the decision that is being appealed or protested, the scope of its appeal (protest) and the name of the court that made the decision;
there is no justification for the incorrectness of the consideration of the case, the illegality and unfoundedness of the decision, with reference to acts of legislation, the circumstances of the case and evidence;
there is no indication of the disputed amount for property claims;
there is no request from the person filing the appeal or the prosecutor bringing the appeal regarding whether the decision is being appealed or protested in whole or in part, what changes are required to be made to it;
copies of the appeal and attached written materials in the number of copies corresponding to the number of persons participating in the case are not attached;
no document confirming payment of the state fee is attached.

The court will issue a ruling on leaving the complaint without progress, which will indicate the deadline for eliminating the reasons that served as the basis for leaving the complaint without movement. If the comments are not eliminated within the prescribed period, then, by analogy with a statement of claim, it will be considered that the complaint has not been filed.

5. Subject and scope of consideration of the case by the appellate court

According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the appellate court, on the basis of an appeal, reconsiders the case based on the evidence available in the case and additionally presented.

After the entry of the CSC, the court of appeal will only check the correctness of the court of first instance establishing the factual circumstances of the case, the application of the rules of substantive and procedural law on the basis.

The CGS also provides that if the court of appeal, when checking the appealed part of the decision of the first instance court, finds that the court violated or incorrectly applied the norms of substantive and (or) procedural law, then the court has the right to check such a decision in full.

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