What should business consider when applying to the Belarusian courts in 2026?

From 01.01.2026 the Code of Civil Legal Proceedings (CCLP) will come into force in the Republic of Belarus. CCP will combine applicable at that time the Civil Procedural Code (CPC) and the Economic Procedural Code (EPC).

CCLP will become a single procedural document for resolving economic (commercial) and civil disputes.         

In this article, lawyers from GRATA International, Belarus have prepared a brief overview of key changes in procedural legislation that foreign companies should pay attention to when working with Belarusian jurisdiction.

1. Digitalization of the judicial process

Applications, complaints and other procedural documents can be filed in the form of an electronic document in cases provided for by CCLP or other legislative acts. (part 4 Article 5 CCLP). For example, it will be permissible to file statements of claim, responses to statements of claim, applications for the issuance of a ruling on a court order, and petitions to cancel a decision of an international arbitration court in electronic form (Part 1 Article 238, Part 1 Article 247, Part 1 Article. 343, Part 1 Article 468 CCLP).

Currently, procedural documents (claims, applications, complaints, etc.) in the form of an electronic document can only be filed to economic courts via the E-court system (https://service.court.gov.by/ru/public/schedule).

CCLP establishes electronic evidence as a type of evidence (for example: electronic documents, text, multimedia and voice messages, databases and other data in electronic (digital) form, information posted on the global computer network Internet) (Article 199 CCLP). A separate procedure will be applied for its submission and request, examination, storage and return.

CCLP also establishes new, but long-used in practice, methods for notifying persons participating in a case about the time and place of a court hearing or the performance of a separate procedural action of the court outside of a court hearing: SMS messages, publication in the media, in the global computer network Internet (including by e-mail, posting information on the Internet portal of the courts of general jurisdiction of the Republic of Belarus) (Part 1 Article 110 CCLP).

2. Simplified litigation proceedings.

 Simplified litigation proceedings are a completely new institution.

In the order of simplified litigation proceedings, cases may be considered only on statements of claim for the recovery of funds or for the recovery of property at the price of the claim filed:

1. to citizens, including individual entrepreneurs - no more than 4 thousand US dollars);
2. for legal entities - no more than 12 thousand US dollars.

 Other cases may be considered in simplified litigation proceedings by the court  at the request of one of the parties with the consent of the other, or on its own initiative, but with the consent of both parties (Part 2 Article 339 CCLP).

Cases in simplified litigation proceedings are considered according to the rules of the claim proceedings, with the exception of some features.

The main feature of simplified litigation proceedings is that the court considers the case without a court hearing, summoning the parties and in a shorter period of time (1 month). 

3. Proceedings in absentia  

Proceedings in absentia will be applied in cases considering in the claim procedure and will be used to ensure judicial protection of the plaintiff's violated rights and to reduce procedural costs in the event of failure of the defendant to appear in court.

The court may consider the case in the order of proceedings in absentia if at least one of the following conditions will be met (Part 1 of Article 332 of CCLP):

• the court has found that the defendant is evading appearance in court;
• the court has found that the defendant is delaying the proceedings.
• the defendant did not inform about the valid reasons for non-appearance and did not ask to consider the case in his absence.

To consider the case in the order of proceedings in absentia the claimant must give his consent. The court has no right to consider the case in the order of proceedings in absentia on its own initiative.

CCLP provides for the possibility of revoking a court decision made in the order of proceedings in absentia upon receipt of a corresponding application from the defendant. In case of cancellation of the decision, the case will be considered according to the general rules of claim proceedings and can not be re-examined in proceedings in absentia, even if the defendant fails to appear.

4. Alternative dispute resolution

In CCLP, as now in CPC and EPC, the possibility of resolving disputes has been preserved by conducting negotiations between the parties to develop the terms of a settlement agreement, a conciliation procedure with the participation of an official from  the court and also a mediation procedure.

An important innovation is the possibility of resolving disputes through negotiations of the parties with the assistance of their lawyers (Part 4 of Article 165 of CCLP). In disputes arising in connection with the intellectual property objects, negotiations between the parties may be conducted with the assistance of patent attorneys (Part 4 of Article 165 of CCLP). Based on the results of this procedure, the parties will have the opportunity to conclude a settlement agreement.