Procedural codes are amended so that powers of prosecutor are extended. These amendments come into force on 18th October 2022. These changes, among others, reflect new realities connected with the economic sanctions against Russia.
Article 52 of the Commercial Procedural Code
Powers of a prosecutor to challenge transactions are supplemented by the right to sue for invalidation of transactions made with the purpose of:
1) violation of legislation on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, avoiding tax, currency, customs legislation and customs legislation of the EAEU
2) violation of legislation establishing special economic measures, measures of influence (counteraction) to unfriendly actions of foreign states
The powers of the prosecutor to intervene in the consideration of cases at any stage of the proceedings were expanded to the following circumstances:
1) when considering applications for issuance of an order of enforcement of an arbitral award
2) when considering applications for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards
3) if the dispute is initiated in order to violate legislation on combating money laundering and financing of terrorism, tax, currency, customs legislation of the Russian Federation and customs legislation of the EAEU
4) if the dispute is initiated in order to violate legislation establishing special economic measures, measures of influence (counteraction) to unfriendly actions of foreign states;
5) if the dispute arose out of fraudulent or sham transaction made for the purposes mentioned above
6) if the housing rights of citizens, including juveniles, are covered by bankruptcy proceedings
Article 52 of the Civil Procedural Code
Part 4 is introduced into Article 52 of the Civil Procedural Code which provides for the right of a prosecutor to intervene in a case to give an opinion if there are circumstances similar to those discussed in the previous paragraph (except for bankruptcy cases).
Role and prospects
These changes track the legislator’s attention to procedure and goals of recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards in Russia, as well as anti-money laundering. We suppose that this would lead to the growth of number of cases reviewed by the courts with participation of a prosecutor, which therefore entails an increase in caseload of prosecution authorities.