To The Issue of Differentiating the Preservation of the Legitimate Interests and Rights of a Group of Individuals

Abstract

The Russian civilized procedure doesn’t remain still and is totally subjected to inclinations toward transnationalization and internationalization, harmonization and unification, and also inclinations toward convergence of 2 kinds of procedures: adversarial and investigative. The growth of the system of class action is a manifestation of those tendencies.

Until recently, the Russian civilized process was built mainly on a model based on a dispute between one creditor (plaintiff) and one debtor (defendant). Meanwhile, sometimes hundreds and thousands of people are involved in legal conflicts, and the actions of the defendant can violate the rights of both an indefinite circle of people and a fairly large, personified group.  

Recently, it has been clearly seen that the legislator, within the framework of the civil process, is following the path of developing the institution for protecting the legitimate interests and rights of a group of individuals. First, the institute of class actions appeared in 2009 in the Arbitration Procedure Code of Russia. And although many scientists criticized quite a large number of provisions of this institute, nevertheless it was generally called historical and even sensational. A class action as a remedy was also incorporated in the CAS of Russia.

Since Oct. 2019, Federal Law Number 191-FZ of 18.07.2019 came into force, which made class actions in civil proceedings in arbitration courts and courts of general jurisdiction a reality.

In fact, the Civil Procedure Code of Russia has included a separate Chapter 22.3. "Consideration of cases on the preservation of the legitimate interests and rights of a group of people", which regulates not only the specifics of filing a class action, but also the specifics of preparing the case and its direct consideration.