Regarding the requirement to submit to the court confirmation that evidence and other pleadings on the merits of the case have been provided to the other party to the proceedings
One of the new provisions of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, and the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine is the requirement to submit to the court documents (confirmation) evidencing that evidence and other pleadings on the merits of the case have been provided (sent) to the other party to the case.
This applies, in particular, to a party’s submission to the court of evidence that was not filed together with the complaint, the answer to the complaint, or a third party’s written explanations (Article 83 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, Article 80 of the Commercial Procedure Code), as well as the submission of other statements on the merits, such as a defense, a reply to the defense, an objection, or a third-party explanation regarding the complaint or the defense (Articles 178–181 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, Articles 162, 165–168 of the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, and Articles 162–165 of the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine).
Since court costs associated with the consideration of a case are currently substantial, and court fee rates are regularly increasing, the above-mentioned requirements will place an additional financial burden on the parties to the case who intend to submit such additional evidence and statements on the merits to the court, especially if there are multiple parties involved in the case.
In this regard, the following questions arise:
What did the legislature mean by “confirmation of the submission (provision) of evidence and other statements on the merits to other parties to the case”? Must a party to the case who intends to submit additional evidence and statements on the merits to the court send (provide) them to another party to the case at their own expense or at the expense of the person to whom they are sending (providing) such evidence?
In the Academic Explanatory Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language, the term “send” means to deliver or dispatch something by mail or through someone else; to forward.
At the same time, the term “provide” means to send or forward something to someone.
Neither the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine, nor the Commercial Procedure Code of Ukraine, nor the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine contains a mandatory requirement that a party to the case who intends to submit additional evidence and other substantive motions to the court must provide evidence that the other party has received such documents.
Therefore, confirmation that a party to the case has sent additional evidence and statements on the merits to the other party to the case shall be deemed to be a document confirming the dispatch (sending) of such documents to the other party (a waybill or declaration from any courier service or Nova Poshta) with a provision that the cost of delivering these documents is to be paid by the very person to whom the documents are addressed.
This, in turn, will significantly reduce the financial burden on parties to the case who intend to submit such additional evidence and statements on the merits to the court, and, given the time required to forward postal items through the branches of the state-owned enterprise “UKRPOSHTA,” will facilitate the swiftest possible consideration of the case.
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