Chief Editor's Note on the new Russian law on Group Litigation

• Author: D. Maleshin
• Position: Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia)
• Pages: 4-5

BRICS LAW JOURNAL Volume VI (2019) Issue 4

CHIEF EDIToR’S noTE

on THE nEw RuSSIAn LAw on GRouP LITIGATIon

DMITRY MALESHIN,

Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia)

https://doi.org/10.21684/2412-2343-2019-6-4-4-5

Recommended citation: Dmitry Maleshin, Chief Editor’s Note on the New Russian

Law on Group Litigation, 6(4) BRICS Law Journal 4–5 (2019).

Three Russian procedural codes – the Civil Procedural Code of 2002, the Arbitrazh

(Commercial) Procedural Code of 2002 and the Code of Administrative Litigation of

2015 – were amended in 2019 by the provisions concerning group litigation. These

amendments may be treated as one of the most important steps in the recent reform

of Russian civil procedure.

Historically, class actions were not admitted in Russia, as was also the case in

many other continental European countries. The main argument underpinning this

position was the existence of joinder of parties which allows eectively protecting

the violated rights of a group of people. Then in the middle of the 1990s scholars

began to discuss the introduction of class actions in Russia. In that period, a special

drafting committee started to prepare the new Civil Procedural Code, which nally

came into force in 2003. Class actions were not included in the code at that time. It

took sixteen years to convince the Russian legislator to introduce class actions.

The 2019 amendments introduced the “pure” model of class actions that exists in

many Anglo-Saxon countries. If we compare Russia with other continental European

countries such as Germany or France, we nd that in Russia there are no restrictions on

the use of class actions, there are no limitations imposed by any specic eld of law, as

is the case in Germany, for example. Therefore, it may be said that the Russian model

of class actions is the most radical among other continental European countries.

Special chapter 22.3 “Considering Cases Concerning Group Litigation” was

amended in the Civil Procedural Code, which came into force on 1 October 2019.

The same chapter was amended in the Arbitrazh (Commercial) Code and the Code