Civil Procedure Code: supervisory appeals
REVERA lawyers continue to review the latest amendments to the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter – CPC). In this article, we analyze certain provisions governing supervisory appeals and compare them with the Economic Procedure Code (EPC) and the Civil Procedure Code (CivPC), highlighting the key differences and features.
The right to file a supervisory appeal
According to Article 612 of the CPC, the following judicial decisions may be appealed in supervisory proceedings:
- Final judicial decisions of courts of first, appellate, and cassation instances;
- Rulings of the supervisory court in cases specified in paragraph 3 of part 2 of Article 613 and part 4 of Article 628 of the CPC.
Exceptions.
The following cannot be appealed in the supervisory procedure:
- Decisions not previously appealed through appellate and cassation procedures;
- Decisions that are not subject to cassation under the CPC;
- Cases concluded by acknowledgment of the claim.
The CPC consolidates the approaches to which types of decisions may be appealed, aligning with Article 435 of the CivPC and Article 300 of the EPC.
The Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus is the supervisory court (Article 613(1) CPC). Depending on the type of judicial decision being appealed, the supervisory complaint is submitted to the following authorities:
| Decision subject to appeal | Supervisory authority |
| Judicial decisions of district (city) courts reviewed in appellate and cassation instances; also decisions of regional (Minsk city) courts issued in appellate/cassation or first instance if not reviewed by the Supreme Court | Judicial Panel for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court |
| Judicial decisions of regional economic courts (including Minsk) reviewed in appellate/cassation instances; also decisions of the Appellate Economic Court issued in these instances or first instance if not reviewed by the Supreme Court | Judicial Panel for Economic Cases of the Supreme Court |
| Decisions of district (city) courts, regional economic courts (including Minsk), which were reviewed in all three instances – appellate, cassation, and supervisory; as well as decisions of the regional courts, Appellate Economic Court, and Supreme Court issued in the first instance or reviewed at any stage | Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus |
Time limits for supervisory appeals
The CPC sets the time limit for filing a supervisory appeal at one year from the date the decision comes into legal force (Article 616). If the appeal concerns decisions of appellate, cassation, or supervisory courts that do not overturn or amend the first-instance ruling, the time limit is counted from the entry into force of the first-instance decision.
A similar approach is taken in the CivPC (Article 436(4)) and EPC (Article 300(2)).
Who may file a supervisory protest
To initiate a protest in supervisory proceedings, a request must be made to authorized officials. According to Article 622 of the CPC, a protest may be filed by:
- The Chairperson of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus, the Prosecutor General, and their deputies;
- Any court ruling in Belarus, except rulings of the Presidium of the Supreme Court.
Timeframe for reviewing a supervisory complaint
The CPC adopts an average approach to timelines. Supervisory complaints must be reviewed within two months of receipt. By contrast, the CivPC provides for a one-month review period (three months in the Supreme Court Plenum), and the EPC allows up to two months (three months in the Plenum) from the date the protest is received.
| CPC | CivPC | EPC |
| No more than 2 months from receipt; if case files are requested, the same term from their arrival (Art. 619(4)) | Review by supervisory instance within 1 month; up to 3 months in the Supreme Court Plenum (Art. 445(8)) | Review by Presidium within 2 months, and up to 3 months in the Plenum of the Supreme Court (Art. 312(3)) |
Grounds for Overturning or Amending Decisions in Supervisory Proceedings
The CPC adopts general principles from the CivPC and EPC but introduces new requirements. In addition to serious violations of substantive and procedural law, the CPC also requires that:
- State and/or public interests are affected (including rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests of an indeterminate group);
- There is a lack of uniform legal application by courts (Article 625 of the CPC).
| CPC | CivPC and EPC |
| Serious violations of substantive/procedural law plus public/state interest violations and non-uniformity in legal application | Serious violations of substantive/procedural law (Art. 448 CivPC; Art. 314 EPC) |
REVERA’s commentary
The CPC simplifies the structure of supervisory proceedings compared to the CivPC. Now, such cases will be reviewed by judicial panels for civil and economic matters or the Presidium of the Supreme Court.
As for the grounds for supervisory appeals, the CPC builds on the CivPC and EPC but adds new criteria for reversal. In addition to legal violations, the appeal must involve significant public interests and require consistency in judicial practice.
The CPC also establishes a balanced time frame — no more than two months from receipt of the complaint, compared to one month (or three in the Plenum) under the CivPC.
Authors: Alina Marchik, Aleksei Fedorovich
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