THE CIVIL PROCEDURAL CODE OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN

21-12-2024

THE CIVIL PROCEDURAL CODE

OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN

SECTION I

GENERAL RULES

CHAPTER 1.

Principal Rules

Article 1. Legislation on civil court proceeding

1.1 In courts of the Republic of Azerbaijan, rules of court proceeding regarding civil cases and economical disputes shall be stipulated by the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan On Courts and Judges, this Code, other laws, as well as international treaties that the Republic of Azerbaijan is a party to.

1.2 Provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan have supreme legal force and direct application throughout the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In the event of discrepancy between provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and norms regulating court proceeding rules, norms of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall prevail.

1.3 It shall not be permitted to issue legal acts terminating or restricting rights and freedoms of persons and individuals in the area of civil procedure action, as well as violating court independence and principle of contentiousness in the course of execution of justice alongside granting the evidence a force that is preliminarily determined.

1.4 Norms of civil procedural law contained in other laws shall be brought into correspondence with this Code.

1.5 When the international treaties that the Republic of Azerbaijan is a party to stipulate rules different from rules stipulated by the civil procedural legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan, rules of the international treaty shall prevail.

1.6. Requirements of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan On Alat Free Trade Zone are taken into account while conducting court proceeding regarding civil cases and economic disputes in Alat Free Trade Zone.

Article 2. Tasks of civil court proceeding

2.1 Tasks of court proceeding regarding civil cases and economic disputes shall consist of endorsement of rights and privileges of any physical person and legal entity rising out of the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan as well as laws and other normative legal acts of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

2.2 Civil court proceeding lead to strengthening lawfulness and public order, education of persons in spirit of strict respect to laws.

Article 3. Power of civil procedural legislation in time and space

3.1 Court proceeding shall be carried out in accordance with the civil procedural law in force at the time of case hearing, enforcement of various procedural actions or execution of court resolution.

3.2 Civil procedural legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan has effect throughout the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan regardless of any case.

3.3 Outside the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, norms of civil procedural legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall apply on board of sea, river or air vessels carrying the state flag of the Republic of Azerbaijan or distinction plate or in the ports they are located.

3.4 International treaties of the Republic of Azerbaijan may establish other rules of application of the norms of the civil procedural legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan in terms of space.

Article 4. Right to appeal to court for protection

4.1 All physical persons and legal entities shall, in accordance with procedure stipulated by law, be entitled to exercise the right to appeal to court for protection of their rights and freedoms, as well as for protection of legally protected interests.

4.2 Waiver of the right of appeal to court shall be irrelevant.

4.3 When it is stipulated by law with respect to certain classes of economic disputes, for certain pre-court settlement or where such procedure has been stipulated by agreement between parties, such dispute shall be submitted for resolution to administrative-economic court upon compliance with this procedure.

4.4 Claims, applications, complaints and other documents related to economic disputes may be submitted to the court in writing or in the form of an electronic document stipulated by the law of the Republic of Azerbaijan On Electronic Signature and Electronic Document through an electronic cabinet created in the Electronic Court Information System.

Article 5. Commencement of a civil case in court

5.1 Case shall be commenced in court upon petition of the physical person or legal entity for protection or endorsement of his legally protected rights and interests.

5.2 In circumstances stipulated by law, civil case may also be commenced upon petition of individuals or institutions acting for protection of rights and interests of another person, persons or state interests.

5.3 These persons shall be entitled to commence case via petition or complaint in accordance with the legislation.

5.4 They may end court proceeding through amicable settlement, acknowledge or reject claim, unless provided otherwise by law.

5.5 A case that is in proceeding in court of any instance shall not be claimed, unless provided otherwise by this Code.

Article 6. Implementation of justice by court

Justice regarding civil cases and economical disputes shall be under the sole competence of courts and shall be carried out by courts in accordance with procedure stipulated by law.

Article 7. Independence of judges

7.1 Judges shall be independent in the course of the implementation of justice.

7.2 Judges shall resolve civil cases and economic disputes without any outside interference.

7.3 Direct or indirect limitation of court proceeding, illegal pressure, exercise of threats, interference by any person shall not be permitted and shall result in liability stipulated by law.

Article 8. Equality of all before law and court

8.1 Justice in respect of civil cases and economical disputes shall be implemented in accordance with the principle of equality of all before law and court.

8.2 Court shall exercise identical approach towards all persons participating in case irrespective of race, religion, gender, origin, property status, business position, believes, appurtenance to political parties, trade unions and other social associations, place of location, subordination, type of ownership, as well as any other grounds not stipulated by legislation.

8.3 According to Article 8.2 of this Code, the persons involved in the work may not be harmed and may not be granted or denied of compromises and privileges.

Article 9. Exercise of justice based on facts, principle of contentiousness and equality of parties

9.1 Justice shall be exercised based on facts, principle of contentiousness and equality of parties.

9.2 Except when otherwise stipulated by this Code, dispute in court may not be heard if persons participating in case have not been called to and heard in court. Persons participating in case shall, for the purposes of ensuring opposite party’s ability to ­ prepare its own defense, be obligated to inform each other of reasons, proves and legal consequences of their claims.

9.3. Judge shall always secure compliance with the principle of contentiousness. Judge shall base his decision solely upon reasons discussed in compliance with the principle of contentiousness, explanations and documentation submitted by parties. Court shall not be entitled to make its decision based upon reasoning put forward by the court in virtue of its professional status.

Article 10. Openness of court hearing

10.1 Courts shall consider cases in accordance with the principle of openness.

10.2 All courts shall hear cases in open hearings, except for instances of disclosure of state, professional and commercial secret, dissemination of personal and family secrets, pursuing interests of minors. While performing their duties judges are allowed to work with state secret without carrying out inspection measures stipulated by the legislation.

10.3 Court hearing or a part of it may be conducted in a close session when the open hearing of the case affects purposes of justice due to ethics principles of a democratic society, public order, state security, as well as other reasons.

10.4 Person participating in case shall be entitled to request court to hold close session for the purposes of protection of secrecy of adoption, inheritance, commerce, invention or taxation, as well as other legally protected secrets and intimate aspects of his personal and family life.

10.5 Court shall issue an order on close court hearing following initial hearing of persons participating in case.

10.6 Close court hearing shall involve persons involved in case, their representatives and lawyers. Where necessary, their witnesses, experts, specialists and interpreters shall be invited.

10.7 Close court hearing shall be conducted with compliance with all rules applicable to civil court proceeding.

10.8 Persons below the age of sixteen that are not involved in the case or witnesses called to court shall not be permitted to enter courtroom.

10.9 Persons participating in the case and other persons present during open court session shall have the right to take notes on the course of court hearing from their seats in the court room. Filming, photographing or recording, as well as live radio and television broadcasting of court session shall be exercised only upon receipt of permission of court to be issued with consideration of opinions of persons participating in case.

10.10 Personal correspondence and personal telegraphic information shall be revealed in course of open court session only upon consent of recipient of such correspondence and information. Said provisions shall also apply to voice and video recording of a private nature.

10.11 Announcement of court acts shall always be open to the public.

Article 10-1. Implementation of court proceeding on civil cases and economic disputes electronically

10-1.1. Court proceeding on civil cases and economic disputes in electronic form are conducted through the Electronic Court Information System in accordance with the general procedural rules established by this Code.

10-1.2. Preparation, sending, receiving, registration and circulation of applications, complaints and other documents by the court and process participants in the electronic form is carried out in accordance with the rules of use of the Electronic Court Information System established by the relevant executive body together with the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

10-1.3. Court proceeding on economic disputes, as well as sending and receiving of applications, complaints and other documents including the issue of the court documents to the court and the participants of the proceedings are carried out through the electronic cabinet created in the Electronic Court Information System.

10-1.4. In the courts where the Electronic Court Information System is applied, court proceedings on civil cases, as well as sending and receiving of applications, complaints and other documents including the issue of the court documents to the court and the participants of the proceedings may be carried out through the Electronic Court Information System.

10-1.5. Documents that have been submitted in accordance with the procedure stipulated by Articles 10-1.3 and 10-1.4 of this Code may not be required to be submitted in another form.

10-1.6. Opportunity to observe the court hearing in real time can be arranged according to the application of the party who cannot attend the meeting and by the decision of the court in case of technical possibilities.

10-1.7. Strengthened electronic signature and certified electronic signature methods are used for electronic document circulation in the Electronic Court Information System.

10-1.8. Case materials compiled in the form of an electronic document in accordance with the procedure stipulated by the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan On Electronic Signature and Electronic Document are considered to be equal to the materials in paper carrier and possess the same legal force.

Article 11. Language of the court proceeding

11.1 Language of the court proceeding in respect of civil cases and economic disputes shall be the Azerbaijani language - the official state language of the Republic of Azerbaijan or the language of the majority of population of a particular region.

11.2 Persons not knowing language of proceeding shall be explained about and provided with the right to get familiar with all case materials, give explanations, testimonies and opinions, appear before court, file petitions, submit complaints in their native language, as well as to use free interpreter services in accordance with the procedure stipulated by this Code. ­

11.3 Court documents shall be presented to persons participating in the case in the language of the proceeding.

Article 12. Unilateral or collegial review of the case by judge

12.1 Civil cases and economic disputes in courts of first instance shall be review by judge unilaterally.

12.2 Cases on appeal shall be reviewed by chairman and two other judges, whereas cases on cassation shall be reviewed by a chairman and two or more judges.

Article 13. Normative legal acts applied by court in the course of resolution of civil cases

13.1 Court shall resolve dispute in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, legal acts adopted through referendum, laws, decrees of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, normative legal acts of central executive bodies, as well as international treaties of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

13.2 In the event of conflict between normative legal acts, court shall apply normative legal act of higher legal force.

13.3 In the event of conflict between normative legal acts comprising legislative system of the Republic of Azerbaijan (except for the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan and acts adopted through referendum) and international treaties of the Republic of Azerbaijan, provisions of international treaties shall prevail.

13.4 In the event of absence of any norm of law regulating disputed legal relationships, court shall apply norms of law regulating analogous relationships.

13.5 In the event such rules are also absent, court shall base its decision upon idea and general principles of legal rules of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

13.6 The court may appeal to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan on interpretation of the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan in connection with the implementation of human rights and freedoms on the cases that are under its proceedings.

13.7 The interpretation of the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan is mandatory for the court in the cases where this interpretation is indicated in the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Article 14. Principles of court hearing on case

14.1 Court shall create necessary conditions for all-faceted, complete and fair hearing of case for the purposes of finding truth. For those purposes court shall explain to persons participating in the case their procedural rights and obligations, warn them of consequences of actions or inaction and provide assistance in exercise of their procedural rights.

14.2 Court shall examine and use evidence submitted only by parties.

14.3 Court shall be under an obligation to suggest parties to end dispute through amicable agreement, and parties may acknowledge or refuse to accept claims, unless provided otherwise by law.

14.4 Persons participating in case shall have the right to exercise personal defense of their rights and interests except for the cases of obligatory representation. Persons participating in case shall be free to choose their attorneys for the purposes of this persons being represented or assisted in exercise of their procedural rights.

14.5 In cases where the participation of a lawyer is required by this Code and the persons involved in the case do not have sufficient means to pay for the services of the lawyer, they have the right to receive free (at the expense of the state) professional legal assistance to represent their interests and exercise their procedural rights.

Article 15. Obligatory nature of court acts

15.1 Court shall render its acts in form of resolutions, writ, decision, and decree.

15.2 Resolution, writ, decision and order of courts entered into legal force shall be obligatory for any and all state authorities, local self-regulating bodies, their officials, political parties, trade unions, their officials, as well as for physical persons and legal entities and shall be executed in compulsory manner throughout the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

15.3 Non-execution of court act, as well as any other form of disrespect to court shall result in liability stipulated by law.

15.4 Where court acts affect interests of interested parties, obligatory nature of acts of court shall not deprive interested persons not participating in case of the right to appeal to court for protection of their rights and interests protected by law.

15.5 Obligatory nature of court acts of foreign countries, international courts and economic courts on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall be determined by international agreements which the Republic of Azerbaijan is party to and this Code.

Article 16. Competence of international courts

In accordance with the international treaties which the Republic of Azerbaijan is a party to, the parties as well as other persons involved in the case can apply to international courts for protection of human rights and freedoms when legal protection methods stipulated by this Code are exhausted.

CHAPTER 2.

Court composition. Objections

Article 17. Court composition

17.1 Justice in respect of civil cases and economic disputes shall be exercised by judges elected to court in the procedure stipulated by law.

17.2 A single judge or collegiate court board considering case or resolving any other procedural matter shall do so on court’s behalf. Judge hearing case unilaterally shall preside over court proceeding.

17.3 All judges shall have equal rights in the course of case hearing.

Article 18. Procedure of resolving matters collegially in courts

18.1 All matters arising in course of hearing and resolution of case by court collegially shall be decided by judges with majority voting. In no event shall any of judges have the right to abstain from voting. Presiding judge shall be the last one to vote.

18.2 The judge not agreeing with majority decision shall be obliged to sign the decision. This judge shall have the right to express his opinion in a written form, with such opinion being attached to the case file but not announced in the course of court session.

18.3 Judges shall be obligated to keep secrecy of consultations and voting during consultations and voting, as well as until expiry of their professional duties.

Article 19. Grounds for not allowing judge to review the case and for expressing objections

19.1 Judge shall not be permitted to consider case in the following circumstances:

19.1.1 where he has not been appointed to the position of judge in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan;

19.1.2 where he is not the judge specified for consideration of the case in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Azerbaijan;

19.1.3 where he has previously participated in the case as a judge of court of first instance, appellate and cassation courts, as well as in course of case re-hearing upon establishment of new circumstances.

19.2 Judge shall not be permitted to participate in the case and may be objected in the following circumstances:

19.2.1 where in course of previous hearing of case he has been appointed as representative or lawyer of one of the parties or has acted as witness, expert, specialist, interpreter, secretary to court session;

19.2.2 where he is one of the parties or where he was or is a relative of any of the parties or of their representative or lawyer;

19.2.3 where he is directly or indirectly interested in the outcome of the proceeding or other circumstances exist that give rise to doubts in respect of his impartiality and fairness.

19.3 No persons being relatives to each other shall be permitted to participate in court board examining a case.

Note: In this Code “relatives” indicates persons whose ancestors are common up to their grandparents, close relatives of spouses, husband (wife) of the grandfather, grandmother, parent, adoptive parent, brother and sister, child, adoptive child or grandchild or their close relatives. Close relatives are considered fathers, grandmothers, parents, adoptive parents, brothers and sisters, spouses, children, adopted children, grandchildren.

Article 20. Grounds for objection against expert, specialist, interpreter, court secretary

20.1 Grounds for objection stipulated by Article 19 of this Code shall also apply equally to expert, specialist, interpreter and court secretary.

20.2 Moreover, expert or specialist, shall not participate in the course of hearing of case under the following circumstances:

20.2.1 where he was or is under service or any other kind of subordination to persons participating in case, their representatives or lawyers;

20.2.2 where he has conducted an inspection on the materials that give grounds to appeal to the court or where these materials are used for the consideration of the case;

20.2.3 where it is determined that he does not have authority.

20.3 Participation of the expert, specialist, interpreter and court secretary in the previous hearing of this case as an expert, specialist, interpreter and court secretary shall not be considered a ground for objecting them.

Article 21. Petitions relating to self-disqualification and objection

21.1 In the event of existence of circumstances mentioned in Articles 19 and 20 of this Code, judge, expert, specialist, interpreter and court secretary shall declare about their disqualification. Persons participating in the case shall also have the right to submit objections on the same grounds.

21.2 Objection or self-disqualification shall be justified in written form and prior to the commencement of the consideration of the case accordingly. Any late objection or self-disqualification shall be only permitted where court and the person filing complaint became aware of the reasons for objection after the commencement of case hearing.

21.3 The party objecting to court shall prove grounds for their objection. Where the evidence on the grounds of the objection is not provided, the objection is kept pending by the court that is considering the case.

21.4 Where an objection is filed following the hearing of the parties in court, he shall prove that the reasons for the objections became known later.

21.5 Where an objection is submitted for the purpose of delaying the course of the court proceeding or where grounds for the objection are false and do not correspondence to the actual state of affairs, objecting party may be fined up to 110 Manats.

21.6 A repeated objection cannot be submitted to the court against the same judge, expert, specialist, translator or court secretary by the same person, his representative or his lawyer on the same grounds.

Article 22. Procedure for settling the objection that have been submitted

22.1 Court shall, in the event there is filed objection, hear opinion of persons participating in case, as well as hear explanations of person being objected if person is willing to provide such.

22.2 Matter of objection in respect of judge hearing case individually shall be considered by court chairman.

22.3 In case of collegiate procedure of hearing of case, matter of objection in respect of judge shall be considered by all other judges without objected judge being present. In case of tie vote in respect of objection, the objected judge shall be deemed dismissed. Objection in respect of several judges or entire court board hearing case under on appeal or cassation shall be settled by chairmen of courts of appellate or cassation instance.

22.4 Matter of objection in respect of expert, specialist, interpreter and court secretary shall be settled by judge and court hearing case.

22.5 Where objection is filed against the chairman that has considered the case in the first instance court or against the judge of the unilateral court, it shall be submitted to the court of appellate instance for consideration.

22.6 Matters of self-disqualification or objection shall be settled by issuance of court writ, which shall not be subject to any further appeal.

Article 23. Consequences of securing of self-disqualification or objection

23.1 In case of securing of self-disqualification or objection to judge considering the case in court of first instance, the case shall be reviewed in the same court by other judges.

23.2 In case of securing of self-disqualification or objection in respect of entire board of court of first instance or a single-judge court, the case shall be transferred by appellate instance court to another court of first instance.

23.3 In case of securing of self-disqualification or objection in respect of entire board of court considering case in a collegiate order, the case shall be submitted to some other board of the same court.

23.4 Where objection or self-disqualification is filed in respect of judge on court of first instance or in respect of entire composition of judges of the Supreme Court of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, the case shall be reviewed by some other judge or board of the same court.

CHAPTER 3.

Judicial relevance

Article 24. Relevance of disputes to court

24.1 Courts of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall guarantee and protect violated and disputed rights and freedoms, except in the event their protection is to be carried out in an order that is out of court and pursuant to this Code and other laws.

24.2 Relevance of dispute to general court or administrative-economic court shall be established in accordance with this Code, further to composition of the parties participating in case, subject matter of dispute or nature of legal relationships.

Article 25. Relevance of disputes to general court

25.1 Disputes arising out of, or related to, civil, family, labor, residential, land relationships, relationships on use of natural resources and protection of environment, tax, administrative and other types of relationships, where at least one party to such dispute is physical person and does not have status of entrepreneur or where the person has status of an entrepreneur and the dispute has not been caused by his entrepreneurial activities, shall be within the relevance of general courts.

25.2 General courts shall review cases on special claim proceedings stipulated by Chapters 24 and 29 of this Code.

25.3 General courts shall review cases on special proceeding stipulated by Article 305 of this Code.

25.4 General courts shall also review cases referred by law to their relevance.

Article 26. Relevance of disputes to administrative-economic court

26.1. Regardless of the administration or other affiliation and subordination, the cases on economic disputes between legal entities, physical persons carrying out entrepreneurial activities without creating a legal entity and obtaining the status of an individual entrepreneur as defined by law or between the tax body and the taxpayer in connection with the claims raised by the tax body belong to the administrative-economic court as civil proceeding.

26.2 The following disputes between the parties stipulated in Article 26.1 of this Code shall be within the relevance of the administrative-economic court:

26.2.1 disputes relating to conflicts in respect of contracts stipulated by the law or conflicts submitted by parties for consideration of the administrative-economic court;

26.2.2 disputes relating to modification or termination of contract;

26.2.3 disputes relating to confirmation of execution executive and other papers in respect of fines paid in uncontested manner (without accepting);

26.2.4 disputes raised by state authorities, local self-regulating bodies and institutions authorized to exercise control with respect to payment of fines, except for uncontested payment of fines further to the requirements of the law;

26.2.5 disputes relating to recovery of cash written off to the budget in an uncontested order with breach of provisions of laws or other normative acts by institutions authorized to exercise control;

26.2.6 disputes relating to declaration as invalid of legal entity’s foundation documents; ­

26.2.7 disputes relating to declaration of physical persons and legal entities as insolvent;

26.2.8 disputes relating to payment of taxes as well as disputes over the sale of the taxpayer's listed property at specialized open auctions in order to ensure that the debts and interests on accrued taxes, and applied financial sanctions have been accepted to the state budget or to ensure the payment of debts and interests on accrued taxes and applied financial sanctions.

26.3 Administrative-economic courts shall also have the right to review other cases referred by law to their relevance.

Article 27. Relevance of disputes to the Economic Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Disputes Arising out of International Agreements

The Economic Court considers the disputes arising from international agreements with the participation of physical individuals and legal entities of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as foreign legal entities, legal entities with foreign investment, international legal entities, foreigners carrying out entrepreneurial activities and persons not possessing any citizenship on the disputes that are related to them.

Article 28. Relevance of cases with participation of foreigners, persons with no citizenship, foreign legal entities

Except as otherwise provided by the inter-governmental agreements, international agreements or agreement of parties, court shall hear cases with participation of foreigners, persons with no citizenship and foreign legal entities.

Article 29. Transfer of dispute to arbitration tribunal

In cases stipulated by laws, international agreements or agreement of parties, dispute falling within court’s relevance shall, upon written consent of the persons ­ participating in case, be transferred for review to arbitration tribunal.

Article 30. Relevance of several interrelated claims

In case of incorporation of several interrelated claims some of which are under the relevance of general courts while others under the relevance of administrative-economic courts, claims shall be reviewed by general court.

Article 31. Inadmissibility of changing the relevance

31.1 Breach of the rules of relevance shall not be permitted.

31.2 Case accepted by court for proceeding in compliance with the relevance rules shall be resolved on in the same court accordingly despite the fact that it later fell under the relevance of another court.

Article 32. Submission of complaint in respect of relevance matters

32.1 Person participating in case shall have the right to file an application relating to change of dispute’s relevance to this or other court.

32.2 Person participating in case shall submit grounds for his disagreement with court’s ­ relevance and shall do so prior to commencement of hearing of case accordingly.

32.3 Judge shall also have right to establish non-relevance of dispute to court’s ­ relevance.

32.4 In the event of dispute relating to court relevance, judge shall issue grounded writ on submission of the case relevantly or rejection of the application on the relevance.

32.5 Such writ may be complained upon by persons participating in case, according to the procedure stipulated in Chapter 21 of this Code, within 10 days of the date of issue (receipt) of such writ by the person participating in case.

32.6. The case is sent from one court to another after the expiration of the appeal period about the decision on the relevance of the court.

32.7. The case sent from one court to another must be accepted for consideration by the court in which it was sent. Disputes between the courts on judicial relevance are not allowed. In cases where there is disagreement between the courts, the case is filed by the court of appeal from one court to another.

CHAPTER 4.

District relevance

Article 33. Notion of district relevance

The division of powers between the courts on the territorial consideration of cases as a court of first instance is defined in this chapter.

Article 34. Courts considering civil cases in first instance

Cases falling within relevance of courts shall be considered by district (city) courts of first instance, local economic courts, economical court on disputes arising out of international agreements.

Article 35. Submission of claim at place of location of respondent

35.1 Except as otherwise stipulated by law, claim shall be submitted to court at place of legal registration of respondent.

35.2 Claim against legal entity shall be submitted at place of address of legal entity. Claim against legal entity arising out of activity of its subsidiary shall be submitted at place of address of such subsidiary.

35.3 Counter claim shall, irrespective of its relevance, be submitted to court reviewing initial claim.

Article 36. Relevance at choice of plaintiff

36.1 Claim against respondent, whose place of residence is unknown, or whose place of residence is outside boundaries of the Republic of Azerbaijan, shall be submitted at the place of location of his property or at his last known place of residence.

36.2 Claim against several respondents with different registered places of residence, places of location or legal addresses shall be submitted at the place of official residence or legal address of one of the respondents.

36.3 Claims on recovery of alimonies and on writ of paternity may also be submitted by plaintiff at his place of residence.

36.4 Claims on dissolution of marriage against persons who have been convicted with imprisonment may be submitted at the place of residence of plaintiff.

36.5 Claims on dissolution of marriage may also be brought at the place of residence of plaintiff in cases when the children of the plaintiff are minors or when, due to health conditions, travel by plaintiff to the place of residence of respondent is deemed to be difficult.

36.6 Claims on compensation of losses, caused by mutilation or other health damages or by death of the breadwinner may be brought by plaintiff at his place of residence or at the place where the damage has been inflicted.

36.7 Claims on restoration of labor, pension and housing rights, return of property or compensation of value thereof, relating to compensation of losses, caused by illegal conviction, illegal subjection to criminal liability, illegal confinement under guard or notification on non-leaving the place of residence as measures of restraint, or illegal imposition of administrative sanction in the form of arrest, may also be brought at the place of residence of plaintiff.

36.8 Claims on disputing resolution on imposition of fines or other sanction issued by administrative bodies and officials authorized to consider cases of administrative violations may also be brought at the place of residence of plaintiff.

36.9 Claims on protection of consumer rights may be brought at the place of residence of plaintiff or at the place of issuing or execution of the agreement.

36.10 Claims on compensation of losses caused by clash of vessels, as well claims on recovery of compensation for provision of assistance and saving operations offshore may be brought at the place of location of the vessel of respondent or respective port of the vessel.

36.11 Claims coming out of agreements indicating place of performance of such agreements may also be brought at the place of execution of the agreement.

36.12 Claims against citizens or legal entities of the Republic of Azerbaijan located on the territory of some other country may be brought at the place of location of plaintiff or the place of location of property of respondent.

36.13 Excluding the relevance stipulated by Article 39 of this Code, the plaintiff has the right to choose one of the courts to which the case belongs according to Articles 36.1-36.12 of this Code.

Article 37. Relevance of courts in respect of cases relating to establishment of facts of legal significance

Except for cases relating to establishment of ownership over construction, facility, plot of land heard by court at the place of location of such construction, premises or plot of land, cases relating to establishment of facts of legal significance shall be considered at the place of location of plaintiff.

Article 38. Relevance of courts in respect of cases relating to bankruptcy (insolvency) of physical and legal persons

Cases of bankruptcy (insolvency) are considered in the court of the place of residence of the debtor, the address of the legal entity.

Article 39. Exclusive relevance

39.1 Claims on acknowledgement of ownership rights over constructions, facilities, plots of land, on recovery of constructions, facilities, plots of land from one’s illegal ­ possession, on rectification of violation of rights of owner or legal possessor not related to deprivation of ownership, shall be submitted at the place of location of such constructions, facilities, plots of land.

39.2 Claims of creditors of persons inheriting certain property filed prior to acceptance of legacy by heirs shall be brought in courts located at the place of location of inheritance property or its main portion.

39.3 Claims to carriers arising out of agreements on carriage of goods, passengers or baggage shall be brought at the place of location of the transport organization.

Article 40. Contractual competence

40.1 Breach of rules of territorial relevance shall not be permitted.

40.2 Parties shall be entitled to change territorial relevance of the dispute further to their agreement. Agreement shall be reduced to writing.

40.3 Agreement may be made in the event of such agreement relying upon certain court case or dispute.

40.4 The rules of Articles 40.1-40.3 of this Code shall not apply if there is an exceptional relevance to the dispute.

Article 41. Relevance of case considered under order proceeding

Application for consideration of a case under order proceeding shall be filed with the court of relevance stipulated by this Chapter.

Article 41-1. Relevance of the claim considered in the simplified procedure of small claim cases

When the cases are considered in the simplified procedure of proceedings on minor cases, the application is submitted to the court on the merits identified in this Chapter.

Article 42. Relevance in respect of cases arising out of criminal case

Except for the cases when a claim was not brought or remained unsettled in course of settlement of a criminal case, civil claim arising out of a criminal case shall be filed for review under the civil procedure in accordance with rules of relevance stipulated by this Code.

Article 43. Relevance of several interrelated cases

43.1 Where several courts have under their proceeding several interrelated cases, such cases shall, for the purpose of fair trial, be considered and settled in joint order. For this, the case (cases) must be sent to a court that has initially accepted one of the cases related to another.

43.2 Merging related cases in one proceeding may be carried out both on the petition of the persons involved in the case and on the own initiative of the court.

Article 44. Transfer of case accepted for proceeding by court to another court

44.1 Case accepted for proceeding through compliance with rules of relevance shall, irrespective of any later change of relevance, be settled by the former court.

44.2 Under the following circumstances court shall transfer a case for hearing by another court:

44.2.1 if respondent, whose place of residence has before been unknown, files a petition on transfer of the case into the relevance of court at his place of residence;

44.2.2 if in course of hearing of case it is revealed that the case has been accepted for proceeding with breach of rules of relevance;

44.2.3 if following securing of a petition for objection against one or more judges, or in virtue of other important circumstances, substitution of said judges or consideration of the case in the said court becomes impossible;

44.2.4 if a claim was brought against the court;

44.2.5 if both parties have filed a petition to consider the case in the court of the district where most of the evidence is located;

44.2.6 in cases stipulated by Article 43 of this Code.

Article 45. Procedure for transferring cases to another court and appeal of relevance

45.1 Matters of relevance of courts shall be settled at the stage of acceptance of claim for proceeding or preparation of hearing of the case by the judge or by a substantiated petition of a person participating in the case.

45.2 Judge shall, in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 21 of this Code, issue a writ on lack of relevance of the court or transfer of the case to another court. It shall be permitted for persons, participating in case to file a complaint from such a writ within 10 days from the date of issue (receipt) of the writ.

45.3 Transfer of a case from one court to another shall be implemented upon expiration of the period stipulated for filing of an appeal from writ.

45.4 Case transferred from one court to another shall be accepted for hearing by the recipient court. Disputes on territorial relevance of courts shall not be permitted. In case of any discrepancies between courts, case shall be transferred from one court to another by the court of appellate instance.

45.5 Transfer of cases under the conditions stipulated by Articles 44.2.3 and 44.2.4 of this Code shall be made by court of appellate instance.

45.6. If it is impossible for the court of first instance to carry out justice in the territory of application of the emergency rule, this authority may be granted by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan to another court of first instance.

CHAPTER 5.

Persons participating in case and other participants of the proceeding

Article 46. Composition of persons participating in the case

Persons participating in cases shall be parties, third parties, applicants, interested persons, social organizations, state authorities and other institutions entitled to appeal to court for protection of breached or violated rights.

Article 47. Rights and obligations of persons participating in case

47.1 Persons participating in case shall exercise their procedural rights in good faith.

47.2 Persons participating in case shall have the right to familiarize themselves with materials of the case, to take extracts and to make copies therefrom and thereof, to file objections, to submit evidence and to participate in the hearing thereof, to ask questions of other persons participating in case, witnesses, experts and specialists, to file petition, including petition for request of supplementary evidence, to give oral and written explanations to the court, to submit proves on any matters arising in course of the court proceeding, to object to petitions and objections of other persons participating in case, to appeal against decisions of the court and to use other procedural rights stipulated by civil procedural legislation.

47.3 Persons participating in case shall be liable for non-fulfilment of procedural duties stipulated by civil procedural legislation.

47.4 The court sends a notice of explanation of their procedural rights and duties to the persons involved in the case.

Article 48. Civil procedural legal capacity

Any physical person and legal entity shall be entitled to have equal procedural rights and carry equal procedural obligations stipulated and permitted by law (civil procedural legal capacity).

Article 49. Civil procedural action capacity

49.1 Capacity to acquire rights and to carry out obligations in court, to assign conduct of case to a representative through personal actions (civil procedural action capacity) shall be recognized after all physical persons and legal entities who are adults and registered in accordance with the requirements of the legislation.

49.2 Minors below the age of sixteen shall have the right to personally exercise his rights and obligations in court upon him being announced as fully capable (emancipation).

49.3 Rights, freedoms and legally protected interests of minors, between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, as well as of citizens with limited action capacity shall be protected in court by their legal representatives. Court, however, shall have the right to invite minors and citizens with limited action capacity to participate in the proceeding in person.

49.4 Rights, freedoms and legally protected interests of minors below the age of fourteen, as well as of citizens lacking action capacity shall be protected in court by their legal representatives.

49.5 In cases stipulated by legislation and related to civil, family, labor, administrative and other legal relationships or to transactions related to disposition of received wages or incomes from entrepreneurial activity, minors shall personally protect their rights, freedoms and legally protected interests.

Article 50. Parties

50.1 Plaintiff and respondent shall be parties to the case. Physical persons and legal entities, officials, state authorities and other institutions shall have the right to act as a plaintiff or a respondent.

50.2 Physical persons and legal entities filing a claim for the protection of their personal interests or interests of a third party, as well as legal entities that belong to state bodies and organizations or whose founders are state, state body or organization are considered to be the plaintiffs who have filed a claim for the protection of state interest.

50.3 Physical persons and legal entities against whom a claim is brought shall be respondents.

50.4 In cases stipulated by law, organizations which are not legal entities shall also be entitled to act as plaintiffs.

50.5 A person who has filed a lawsuit for his interests with the application of a person who has the right to apply to the court for the protection of someone else's rights, freedoms and interests protected by law under the law shall be notified about the initiated process and participate in the hearing as a plaintiff. The parties equally exercise procedural rights and bear equal procedural duties.

Article 51. Participation of several plaintiffs and respondent in the case

51.1 Claim may be brought jointly by several plaintiffs or against several respondents. Each and every plaintiff or respondent shall participate in court individually and independently.

51.2 Joint participants shall have the right to assign conduct of case to one of such participants.

51.3 Where it is necessary to bring another respondent into proceeding, court shall have the right, prior to issue of a resolution and following consent of plaintiff, to bring such respondent into the proceeding.

Article 52. Refusal of the claim, acceptance of the claim, amicable agreement

52.1 Plaintiff shall have the right to refuse the claim. Refusal from the claim shall be reduced to writing.

52.2 Respondent shall have the right to acknowledge a claim in full or in part through filing of a written petition or making a note in the protocol.

52.3 Parties shall have the right to close a case through an amicable agreement.

52.4 At any stage of the hearing, the parties have right to give information on the legal settlement of the dispute and proposals for a reconciliation agreement.

52.5 Court shall not recognize refusal of plaintiff from claim, acknowledgement of claim by respondent and shall not approve amicable agreement of the parties if such actions contradict laws or violate rights and legally protected interests of any other person. Under the aforementioned circumstances the court shall consider the case on its merits.

Article 53. Substitution of claim

Plaintiff shall have the right to make changes to grounds or subject matter of the claim, to increase or to decrease value of claim prior to passing of resolution.

Article 54. Substitution of improper party

54.1 Where a claim is filed by person, who does not have right of claim, or is brought against a person, who is not liable under the claim, court shall have the right, upon consent of plaintiff and without cancelling case, allow substitution of initial plaintiff or respondent by proper plaintiff or respondent.

54.2 Where plaintiff does not agree to his substitution by real plaintiff or the respondent with the real respondent, the court will consider the case on the demands put forward.

54.3 Where plaintiff does not agree to substitution of respondent by another person, court may invite this person to participate in court as a second respondent.

54.4 Upon effectuation of substitution hearing of case shall commence from the beginning.

Article 55. Third parties making independent claims under subject matter of dispute

55.1 Third parties, making independent claims under the subject matter of dispute, shall have the right to enter process before passing of a court resolution through bringing a claim against one or both parties.

55.2 They use all the rights of the claimant and bear all the duties for the disputes of that category, except for the duty of the respondent in the administrative-economic court to comply with the rule of pre-trial settlement of the dispute (pretension), provided for by law or in contracts.

Article 56. Participation of third parties in cases on restoration at place of work

56.1 With respect to cases on restoration of employees that are illegally dismissed or transferred to another position at a place of work, court shall have the right to bring officials who, under the resolution, dismissed or transferred employee to another position to participate in the case as a third party on the side of respondent.

56.2 Where court determines an express breach of provisions of law in course of dismissal or transfer of an employee, court shall have the right to impose upon an official in fault the duty to compensate a legal entity, or an employee for moral losses, incurred during the period of forced absence from work or performance of work duties associated with a lower salary. In such cases, amount to be compensated by such officials shall be determined in accordance with labor legislation.

Article 57. Third parties not making independent claims under subject matter of dispute

57.1 Third parties not making independent claims under the subject matter of dispute shall have the right to enter process on the side of plaintiff or respondent prior to resolution of court of first instance, which may affect their rights and obligations in respect of one of the parties. They may be invited to participate in the case on the petition of the persons participating in the case or on the initiative of the court.

57.2 Third parties not making independent claims shall enjoy procedural rights and bear procedural obligations of parties, except for the right to change grounds and subject matter of the claim, to increase or to decrease amount of claim, to refuse from claim, to acknowledge claim or to enter into an amicable agreement, to file a counter claim, to demand obligatory execution of court resolution.

Article 58. Procedural legal succession

58.1 In case of withdrawal of one of the parties from disputed relationships or relationships determined by resolution (death of an individual, reorganization of a legal entity, assignment, transfer of debt and other cases of novation of persons in respect of material legal relationship), the court shall permit substitution of such party by its legal successor. Legal succession shall be possible at any stage of the proceeding.

58.2 All actions, exercised prior to entrance of legal successor into the proceeding, shall be obligatory for such a successor in the manner they would have been obligatory for persons who were substituted by such legal successor.

Article 59. Appeal to court for protection of rights of other persons, public and state interests

59.1 In cases stipulated by legislation, state authorities, physical persons and legal entities shall have the right to appeal to court with claim on protection of rights, freedoms and legally protected interests of other persons upon request by these persons or with claim on protection of interests of other persons. Claim for protection of interests of persons lacking action capacity or minors may be filed irrespective of the request of the interested parties.

59.2 Persons filing claim for the protection of interests of other persons shall enjoy full procedural rights and bear all procedural obligations of plaintiff, except for the right to enter into an amicable agreement. Refusal of said persons and authorities from claim shall not deprive a person, for protection of whose interests the claim has been brought, to request consideration of the case on its merits.

59.3 Court shall cancel proceeding on a case where a person in whose interests a case has been commenced refuses the claim.

Article 60. Participation of state authorities and local self-governing bodies through submission of opinions

In cases stipulated by the law, court of first instance shall have the right to invite state authorities and local self-governing bodies to enter, prior to issue of a court resolution, into proceeding for submission of opinions for the purpose of exercise of their duties, protection of rights, freedoms and legally protected interests of private persons, as well as state and public interests.

Article 61. Other participants in the case

In addition to persons participating in the case, witnesses, experts, specialists, interpreters, representatives and lawyers shall have the right to participate in the case.

Article 62. Witness

62.1 Any person in possession of information conducing to fair settlement of a dispute by court may be interrogated as a witness.

62.2 Witness shall be obliged to appear before court and to inform court of all the information known to him and circumstances on the case.

62.3 Witness shall be obliged to make true statements, to answer questions of judge and persons participating in case.

62.4 Witness shall bear criminal liability for false statements and refusal to submit statements.

Article 63. Expert

63.1 Expert shall be a person with special knowledge, appointed by court for the purpose of issue of an opinion required under the provisions of this Code.

63.2 Person appointed to carry out examination shall upon being called appear before the court and provide an impartial opinion on requested matters. The expert should refuse to give an opinion, if he does not have the necessary knowledge to perform the task assigned to him.

63.3 Where it is required to submit an opinion, expert shall have the right to familiarize himself with the materials of the case, participate in court sessions, ask questions, request court to provide additional materials.

63.4 Expert shall bear criminal liability for deliberately sounding a false opinion or refusal to give an opinion.

Article 64. Specialist

64.1 Specialist shall be a person having technical or other skills and knowledge, required for assisting court in course of hearing.

64.2 Person called to participate in case as a specialist, shall be obliged to appear before the court and to answer questions asked by court and by parties, to give oral and written recommendations and explanations, to provide, where necessary, court with technical assistance.

Article 65. Interpreter

65.1 Interpreter shall be a person appointed by court in cases stipulated by this Code and having knowledge of languages at a level sufficient for making interpretations.

65.2 Interpreter may be appointed among persons proposed by participants.

65.3 Other participants of process shall not have the right to undertake interpretation despite of knowledge of required languages.

65.4 Interpreter shall be obliged to appear before court and shall perform interpretations in full, in due manner and time.

65.5 Interpreter shall have the right to ask questions from participating persons with the purpose of clarifying interpretation.

65.6 Interpreter shall bear criminal liability for deliberately conducting false interpretation.

Article 66. Lawyer

Lawyers with authorities confirmed in accordance with the applicable procedures of the Republic of Azerbaijan shall have the right to act as lawyers in course of civil proceeding on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Article 67. Obligatory participation of lawyer

67.1. Applications on cassation and additional cassation complaints, as well as reconsideration of the court act on the newly emerged cases are accepted to the proceeding only if they have been composed by the lawyer. The persons participating in the case in the form of cassation and additional cassation procedures, as well as when court act is reconsideration the newly emerged cases, can participate in court sessions only together with the lawyer.

67.2. By this Code, in cases where the mandatory participation of the lawyer in the hearing is required, if the persons involved in the case do not have sufficient means to pay for the services of the lawyer, the court that has accepted the court act shall ensure the lawyer's participation in the hearing on the basis of written request of the persons involved

Article 68. Rights and obligations of a lawyer

68.1 Lawyer shall be obliged to provide a quality legal services in preparation of case for court hearing and hearing of the said case.

68.2 The lawyer issued by the court has the right to become familiar with the case materials, to take extracts from them, to make copies, to submit evidence and to take part in the investigation of  evidence, to ask questions to other persons, witnesses, experts and specialists involved in the case, to submit a petition, as well as to submit a petition on requesting additional evidence, to give oral and written explanations to the court, to submit his own evidence and opinions on all issues that occurred during the course of the court consideration, to protest against the petitions and arguments of other persons involved in the case.

68.3 Upon instructions of persons participating in the case and acting under the power of attorney, lawyer shall have the right to file complaints from acts of court and to exercise other rights stipulated by law.

CHAPTER 6.

Representation in court

Article 69. Conducting a case through representative

69.1 Any physical person or legal entity shall have the right to file a claim before the court acting in person or through a duly appointed representative. Where necessary, court shall have the right to request a person to appear in court in person for the purpose of submitting explanations.

69.1-1. Representative of an individual may be his nearest relative or lawyer (except for persons provided for in Article 71 of this code). The representative's authority to conduct business in the court must be duly formalized.

69.2 Legal entities shall be represented in courts through their authorities stipulated in law, other legal acts or establishment documents or through their respective representatives authorized to act so and whose primary workplace is this legal entity.

69.3 Authorities of an official of organization shall be supported by documents certifying their authorities and submitted to court and where necessary, by establishment documents (charter, agreement).

69.4 Legal entity going through the process of liquidation shall be represented in court by an authorized representative of liquidation commission (leveler, liquidator).

Article 70. Persons who may act as representatives in court

Except for persons referred to in Article 71 of this Code, any person with action capacity, having duly legalized authority to appear before court, shall have the right to act as a representative in court.

Article 71. Persons who may not act as representatives in court

71.1 Persons without full action capacity or persons under custodianship or guardianship, shall not be entitled to participate in court as representatives.

71.2 Judges, investigators, prosecutors, deputies of the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan and Ali Majlis of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic shall not be entitled to participate in court as representatives, except for cases of their participation as authorized persons of respective bodies or as legal representatives.

71.3 Person shall not have the right to act as a representative, if this person is currently providing or have before provided legal advice to persons, whose interests contradict to interests of persons proposed for representation or if such a person has acted as judge, prosecutor, expert, specialist, interpreter, witness, secretary or if such a person is a relative to official, participating in the proceeding.

71.4 In cases and under circumstances stipulated by Articles 19 and 20 of this Code, persons participating in case may raise an objection against a representative.

71.5 Procedure for settlement of objections shall correspond to Article 22 of this Code.

Article 72. Legal representatives

72.1 Rights and legally protected interests of persons without action capacity, with partial or restricted action capacity shall be represented in courts by their parents, adopters, guardians, custodians and other persons.

72.2 Physical persons to participate in the proceeding and declared under an applicable procedure to be missing shall be represented in courts by custodians appointed for management and protection of property of such missing person.

72.3. The heir, who is a representative of the deceased or the person who has been declared dead in the established order, acts as a representative of the person or guardian appointed for the maintenance and management of the estate, if the inheritance has not been accepted by anyone.

72.4 Legal representatives shall, subject to limitations stipulated by law, perform on behalf of represented persons all procedural actions, which the latter shall have the right to perform. They shall submit to court documents certifying their powers.

72.5 Legal representatives shall have the right to assign administration of a case to the person of their choice that have been provided by Article 69.1-1 of this Code.

Article 73. Legalization of powers of representatives

73.1 Powers of a representative shall be legalized through power of attorney issued and legalized in the procedure stipulated by law.

73.2 Power of attorneys issued by private persons shall be notarized or legalized by head of legal entity where a principal works or studies, by the relevant body of executive authority at place of residence of a principal, organization for social protection of population, hospital or other in-patient medical establishment where a principal is undergoing a medical examination, and where a power is issued to military personnel, employees of a military division or family members thereof - by head of the respective military division.

73.3 Power of attorney issued by a person in place of confinement shall be legalized by head of a respective place of confinement.

73.4 Power of attorney issued on behalf of a legal entity shall be signed by head of such legal entity or by other person authorized by establishment documents of the legal entity with affixing a seal of the legal entity.

73.5 Powers of the lawyer shall be legalized in the procedure stipulated by law.

Article 74. Powers of representative

74.1 Representative shall have all powers for taking, on behalf of a represented person, any procedural action required for successful settlement of case.

74.2 Powers for signing claim petition, transfer of case to arbitration, full or partial refusal from claim and recognition of claim, acknowledgement of the claim, change of subject or ground for claim, assignment of an authority to enter into an amicable agreement, filing a petition from an act of court, request of the obligatory execution of an act of court, as well as powers for receipt of awarded property or funds shall be specifically referred to in power of attorney issued by the represented person.

Article 75. Cancellation of powers of representative

75.1 Person participating in case shall at any time have the right to cancel power of attorney, while an attorney shall at any time have the right to declare his refusal from acting under the power of attorney.

CHAPTER 7.

Evidence

Article 76. Evidence

76.1 Evidence shall mean information which shall be applied by court in the procedure stipulated by this Code and other laws for establishment of existence or absence of circumstances making grounds for claims and objections of persons participating in case, as well as of other circumstances important for fair settlement of the case.

76.2 Such information shall be established upon written and oral proves, on-site examinations, audio and video recordings, witness testimonies, explanations of persons participating in the case.

76.3 It shall not be permitted to apply evidence obtained with breach of law.

Article 77. Burden of proof

77.1 Each party shall prove circumstances used as grounds for its claims and objections.

77.2 In course of consideration of disputes on recognition of acts of state authorities, executive bodies, etc. to be irrelevant, burden of proof of circumstances being grounds for the adoption of such acts shall be on an authority which adopted said act.

77.3 Court shall be entitled to propose persons participating in case to submit all supplementary necessary evidence, if it considers hearing of the case on the basis of existing evidence impossible.

Article 78. Presentation, demand and obtainment of evidence

78.1 Evidence shall be presented by persons participating in case to court of first instance.

78.2 If the person participating in the case does not have the opportunity to independently obtain the necessary evidence from the persons or bodies involved or not involved in the case, he can apply to the court with a petition to demand this evidence. The petition should specify with these proofs what cases that are important for the case are identified, the characteristics of the evidence and the its location. The person participating in the case and having at least 10% share in the nominal capital of the legal entity may demand from the court in his petition to ensure that all documents (without specifying a concrete document) or information related to the cases stipulated in Article 49.4 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan that the other person (legal entity or his representative) participating in the case possesses are provided. If necessary, the court can issue a document for obtaining evidence to the person involved in the case. The person who has the evidence required by the court sends it directly to the court, or to the person who submitted the request to issue it to the court.

78.3 Where a person requested to submit evidence is unable to act so or fails to submit evidence within a period stipulated by court, this person shall, within 5 days from the date of receipt of the request, submit to court a notice explaining reasons for his inability or his failure.

78.4 Where failure to submit evidence has according to the court been due to unreasonable ground, a person in possession of the evidence shall be penalized up to 220 Manats.

78.5 Notwithstanding imposition of penalty, person in possession of evidence shall not be relieved of obligation to present the required evidence to court.

Article 79. Review and examination of evidence at place of its location and storage

79.1 Where it is impossible to submit or to issue written and material evidence to court, court shall have the right to examine and to conduct research of such evidence at place of their location or storage.

79.2 Examination and research of evidence by court shall be carried out upon submission of a notice to persons participating in case.

79.3 Where necessary, experts and witnesses shall be called to participate in examination and research.

79.4 A protocol of examination and research of evidence at place of their location shall be prepared immediately upon such examination and research.

Article 80. Relativity of evidence

Court shall only accept and take into consideration evidence being of relevance to facts and circumstances established by parties to case.

Article 81. Admissibility of evidence

Circumstances of a case, which in accordance with law or other legal normative acts shall be proved by certain means of proof, shall not be proved by any other means.

Article 82. Ground for relief from burden of proof

82.1 Publicly known facts or circumstances shall not be disputed and proved.

82.2 Circumstances established by a court resolution, which entered into legal force, and relevant to persons participating in case shall be obligatory for court considering another case.

82.3. The facts determined by the court resolution, which has entered into legal force on a civil case, are not disputed and re-proved by the persons involved in the case in another court hearing.

82.4. The decision of the court, which has become legally effective, as well as other decision on criminal prosecution, is mandatory for the court in the part on whether there is an incident for the court or not, and on the relevance of the person to the incident, when considering the civil cases and economic disputes.

Article 83. Court assignments

83.1 Where it is necessary to collect evidence in another city or region, a court examining a case shall be entitled to request respective court to undertake relevant procedural actions.

83.2 Merits of a case under hearing, circumstances to be clarified, evidence to be collected by the court upon assignment shall be described in a writ on court assignment.

83.3 Writ on court assignment shall be obligatory for a court assigned to execute the same and shall be so executed within ten (10) days from the date of receipt of said writ.

83.4 Court assignments of district courts dispatched to courts of another country shall be made in accordance with Article 91 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan On Courts and Judges.

Article 84. Order for execution of court assignment

84.1 Court assignment shall be executed in court session in accordance with rules stipulated by this Code. Persons participating in case shall be notified of time and location of the session, however their failure to appear shall not prevent proceeding with the session.

84.2 Writ shall be passed in respect of execution of a court assignment and such writ, along with all the materials, shall be immediately passed to court considering a case.

84.3 In case if persons participating in case and witnesses make statements or give explanations to court executing an assignment, such statements shall be made and explanations be given under rules of general application.

Article 85. Securing evidence

85.1 Persons participating in case, who have grounds for a caution that future submission of evidence by these persons may become impossible or difficult to accomplish, shall be entitled to request court to secure such evidence.

85.2 Securing evidence before commencement of court proceeding shall be implemented by notary publics, officials of consular institutions and other persons performing notary duties under the procedures stipulated by law.

Article 86. Petition for securing evidence

86.1 Petition for securing evidence shall be filed with court reviewing the case or a regional court responsible for performance of procedural actions for securing evidence.

86.2 Evidence, which should be secured, circumstances to be proved by such evidence, reasons for a person to file a petition requesting securing evidence, as well as particular case for which secured evidence are necessary shall be indicated in a petition for securing evidence.

Article 87. Procedure for securing evidence

87.1 Securing evidence shall be carried out by judge in accordance with rules stipulated by this Code.

87.2 Court shall secure evidence in particular through testimony of witnesses, appointment of an expert examination, request and examination of written and material evidence.

87.3 Persons participating in case shall be notified of date and place of review of petition for securing evidence, however their failure to appear shall not prevent petition for securing evidence from being considered.

87.4 Court shall render a writ on securing evidence, which writ shall specify procedure and method of execution.

87.5 Protocols and all evidence collected by way of securing evidence shall be issued to the court examining the case and persons participating in case shall be notified accordingly.

87.6 Court shall be entitled to re-examine its writ on securing evidence.

Article 88. Evaluation of evidence

Court shall evaluate evidence in a fair, impartial, all-complete and full manner and shall thereafter evaluate norms of law to apply to such evidence. No evidence shall have a preliminarily established force for court.

Article 89. Written evidence

89.1 Written evidence shall mean notarized documents, acts, contracts, notes, business correspondence and other documents and materials containing information on circumstances being of importance for case.

89.2 Materials produced through facsimiles, electronic or other means of communication, or in any other way, shall be accepted as written evidence subject to possibility of establishing validity of such documentation.

89.3 Evidence shall be submitted in an original form or as a duly certified copy. Where only a part of the document is of certain relevance for a case, a certified extract from such a document shall be presented.

89.4 Originals of documents shall be submitted to court where required by law or other normative legal acts, where circumstances of case may be proved only by way of application of such original documents, as well as in other cases upon request of court.

89.5 Copies of written evidence submitted to court by person participating in case shall be sent (issued) to other persons participating in case if such other persons do not have said evidence in their possession.

Article 90. Returning original documents

90.1 Following a date of a court resolution entering into legal force, it shall be permitted, upon application, to return originals of documents contained in case to persons who submitted such documents.

90.2 Along with such application said persons shall provide court with a duly certified copy of the original or shall appeal to court for certifying of copies remaining among case papers.

90.3 Prior to a date of a court resolution entering into legal force, documents may be returned to persons who presented said documents where the court is confident that return of originals will not jeopardize fair settlement of the case.

Article 91. Material evidence

Objects, which due to their features, place of location or other characteristics conduce to establishments of circumstances, relevant to the case, shall be regarded as material evidence.

Article 92. Safekeeping of material evidence

92.1 Material evidence shall be kept with court.

92.2 Objects, which may not be issued to court, shall be kept at place of their location. They shall be examined by court, described in full details, sealed and, where necessary, pictured or recorded on a video tape.

92.3 Expenses for safekeeping of material evidence shall be distributed by parties in accordance with provisions of this Code.

92.4 Court and a person responsible for safekeeping of evidence shall take all measures for safekeeping of material evidence in intact conditions.

Article 93. Review and examination of material evidence with low storage term

93.1 Material evidence with a low storage term shall be immediately reviewed and examined by court at place of their location.

93.2 Persons participating in case shall be notified of place and time of review and examination of material evidence. Failure of persons participating in case to appear at review and examination shall not prevent the appropriate material evidence from being reviewed and examined.

93.3 Results of review and examination of material evidence shall be entered into protocol.

Article 94. Disposition of material evidence

94.1 Further to a date of court resolution entering into legal force, material evidence shall be returned to persons from whom such evidence has been initially obtained or shall be transferred to persons whose rights over said evidence have been confirmed by court or be disposed of in the procedure stipulated by court.

94.2 Objects, which by law may not be in possession of individuals, shall be transferred to appropriate organizations.

94.3 Where following review and examination of material evidence by court, persons submitting an evidence file petitions for return of the appropriate evidence and securing of this petition does not jeopardize hearing of case, evidence may be returned to the appropriate persons prior to finalization of case.

94.4 Court shall render a writ or resolution on matters related to disposition of material evidence.

Article 95. Audio and video recordings

95.1 Person providing, or filing a petition for request of, audio- or video-recordings in electronic or any other form, shall show when, by whom and under which circumstances said recordings have been made.

95.2 Except as stipulated by law, use of secretly produced audio- or video-recordings as evidence shall not be permitted.

Article 96. Storing and returning audio and video recordings

96.1 Audio or video recordings shall be kept with court. Court shall take all measures on their safekeeping.

96.2 In exceptional cases, upon effective date of a court resolution, it shall be permitted to return audio or video recordings to persons who provided said recordings.

96.3 Court shall render a writ on return of audio or video recordings.

Article 97. Appointment of expert examination by court

97.1 Court shall, for the purpose of clarification of matters emerging in course of hearing and requiring special knowledge, upon application of a person participating in the case or further to its own initiative, appoint an expert examination.

97.2 In the event of a mutual consent, persons participating in the case shall be entitled to request court to appoint a particular competent person as an expert.

97.3 Persons participating in case shall be entitled to present to court questions to be considered by expert.

97.4 Final decision on scope of questions to be considered by an expert shall be determined by court. Court shall motivate rejection of questions proposed by persons participating in the case.

97.5 Where any party refrains from participating in an expert examination or causes obstacles in course of performance of an examination (failures to attend expert examination, to provide experts with required documents, to pay expenses for carrying out of an examination, etc.), and it is impossible by circumstances of case to hold an expert examination without participation of said party, court shall, depending on fact which party refuses to participate in expert examination and importance of such expert examination for said party, have the right to acknowledge a fact, for establishment of which expert examination is appointed, as established or rejected.

Article 98. Contents of writ on appointment of expert examination

98.1 Court shall render a writ on holding of an expert examination.

98.2 The following information shall be included into the writ on holding an expert examination: name of court; time of expert examination; names of parties to case; title of expert examination; facts to be proved or rejected by expert examination; questions to be considered in course of examination; first name, last name and patronymic of expert or name of expert examination organization, to hold expert examination; materials provided to expert; period for performance of examination and issue of opinion.

98.3 Writ shall also include the warning of the court to the expert on the criminal liability for providing deliberately false opinion.

Article 99. Procedure for carrying out expert examination

99.1 Expert examination shall be carried out under the principle of contentiousness and observance of rights of persons participating in case as stipulated by this Code. Court shall have the right to get information on course of expert examination.

99.2 Expert examination shall be carried out by employees of a specialized expert examination organization or other specialists appointed by court. It shall be permitted to appoint several experts for performance of expert examination.

99.3 Depending upon type of research or upon the fact whether it is possible or otherwise to issue investigation materials into court session, or where such issue is associated with difficulties, expert examination shall be held in or outside court session. Persons participating in case shall have the right to attend expert examination, except for cases when such attendance of an expert examination at locations outside of court may jeopardize normal activity of experts.

99.4 Where performance of an expert examination has been assigned to two and more experts, they shall have the right to consult with each other. If experts come to a single opinion, they shall issue a single opinion. Expert, who does not agree with other experts, shall issue a separate opinion.

99.5 Where an expert examination is performed at an expert examination organization, particular expert or experts, appointed by the head of said organization for carrying out the expert examination, shall be liable for the opinion of the examination.

Article 100. Rights and responsibilities of experts

Expert shall have rights and carry out responsibilities stipulated by Article 63 of this Code and other laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Article 101. Expert opinion

101.1 The expert no later than 1 month from the date of receipt of the court decision on appointment of expert examination by the forensic examination office, and no later than 10 days in respect of cases provided for in Article 172.2 of this Code gives a written opinion, confirms accuracy by appending the signature and sends to the court without delay. Expert opinion in connection with the cases provided for in Article 172.3 of this Code, shall be given within 3 days.

101.2 If it proves impossible to conduct examination within the periods specified in Article 101.1 of this Code, the head of the forensic examination office notifies the court without delay by citing to justifiable reasons. In such circumstances, the duration of the examination shall be agreed with the court in writing by taking into consideration the level of complexity of the experimentation.

101.3 If the expert recognizes the necessity of submission of additional research materials for stating an opinion, a petition is filed to the court no later than 5 days from the date of receipt of the court decision on appointment of expert examination by the forensic examination office. The petition shall contain an accurate and complete list of required research materials.

101.4 The court shall review the petition of the expert within 3 days and if colleсting the supplementary research materials call for a certain period of time, the deadlines provided for in Article 101.1 of this Code shall be extended by notifying the head of the forensic examination office.

101.5 If that petition of the expert is not granted within the period provided for in Article 101.4 of this Code, the head of the forensic examination office is entitled to dismiss the decision of the court on the appointment of the expert examination without abiding by it.

101.6 The expert opinion shall include a comprehensive interpretation of the conducted research, inferences based on them, reasonable answers to the questions addressed by the court. If the expert during examination identifies circumstances that are significant to the case and were not interrogated, she/he is granted a right to include the statements in the opinion.

101.7 The expert opinion is examined in a court and evaluated along with other evidence.

101.8 In case of non-compliance with the target dates provided for in Articles 101.1 and 101.2 of this Code, the forensic examination office may be fined by the court in the amount of one hundred manats.

102.1 Where expert opinion is not fully clear or is not complete, court shall have the right to appoint a supplementary expert examination and assign holding such expert examination to the same or to a different expert.

102.2 In case of disagreement with the opinion of expert on the basis of lack of grounds for such an opinion, as well as in cases of discrepancies between opinions of several experts, court shall have the right to appoint a repeated expert examination and assign holding an examination to different expert or experts.

Article 103. Evaluation of expert opinion by court

103.1 Opinion of expert shall not be binding upon court and shall be evaluated by court in accordance with rules of Article 88 of this Code.

103.2 Court’s disagreement with expert opinion shall be substantiated in resolution or writ.

Article 104. Witness testimonies

104.1 Witness shall provide court with oral information on information and facts known to him.

104.2 Upon request of court witness shall give his statements in writing.

104.3 Information given by a witness without making reference to a source of such information shall not be treated as evidence.

104.4 The following persons shall not be interrogated as witnesses:

104.4.1 persons who due to minor age, physical or mental disabilities are not capable to properly comprehending facts and providing correct factual testimonies;

104.4.2 representatives in a civil case or lawyers in a criminal case- on circumstances known to these persons due to performance of their professional duties;

104.4.3 judge - on matters known to him due administration of justice;

104.4.4 religious servants - on circumstances known to them due to confessions;

104.4.5 lawyers on matters known to them due ­ to performance of their professional duties.

104.5 The following persons shall have the right to refuse to testify in courts:

104.5.1 persons against themselves;

104.5.2 spouses against each other, children against parents, parents against children;

104.5.3 brothers and sisters against each other, grandfather and grandmother against grandchildren, grandchildren against grandfather and grandmother;

104.5.4 deputies of the Milli Majlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Ali Majlis of Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic on information known to them due to performance of their service duties.

104.6 Person petitioning for a call of a witness shall show the last name, first name, patronymic and place of residence of such witness.

Article 105. Rights and responsibilities of the witness

105.1 Witness shall have rights and carry out responsibilities stipulated by Article 62 of this Code and other laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

105.2. Where a witness is unable to appear before the court due to illness, old age, handicap, disability or other valid reasons, he may be intorrogated by the court at the place he is residing.

105.3. The witness shall have the right to demand the remuneration of the costs related to his summoning to the court and compensation for the loss of time.

Article 106. Explanations of persons participating in case

106.1 Explanations of persons participating in case on facts known to these persons and relevant to case shall be heard and evaluated along with other evidence collected with respect to case.

106.2 Where one of the parties holds the evidence and does not disclose the same upon request of court, court shall consider circumstances relevant to case as established upon information known to the parties.

106.3 Acknowledgement of facts serving grounds for claims and objections of one party by other party shall relieve the former from burden of proof of such facts. Acknowledgement of fact shall be entered into a protocol of court session and be signed by a person making such an acknowledgement. Where acknowledgement of fact is expressed in a petition reduced to writing, such a petition shall be appended to case file.

106.4 Court shall not accept an acknowledgement where it has doubts as to sincerity of the acknowledgement or such acknowledgement being made under misleading statements, force, threat or mistake. In such event, the facts shall be subject to proof under a general procedure.

CHAPTER 8.

Court expenses

Article 107. Composition of court expenses

Court expenses shall be composed of a state duty and costs associated with hearing of case.

Article 108. State duty

108.1 State duty shall be paid under the following circumstances:

108.1.1 upon filing of claim applications;

108.1.2 upon filing of applications for joining the case by the third parties submitting independent claims on subject matter of the dispute;

108.1.3 upon filing of applications for establishment of facts of legal significance;

108.1.3-1 upon filing of applications on the court decision;

108.1.4 upon filing of appellate and cassation complaints, as well as of complaints from cancellation of proceeding, keeping the claim pending, imposition of court fines.

108.2. Grounds for state duty on cases considered in courts, procedure for its payment, its amount and exemption from the payment shall be determined by the law.

108.3. State duty shall be paid only by means of electronic payment systems.

Article 109. State duty for complaints from acts of court

109.1 State duty for filing an appellate complaint and cassation complaint shall be equal to, respectively, 120% and 150% of a state duty payable in the event of application to court of first instance.

109.2 State duty for complaint filed with respect to re-examination of a resolution shall be paid once.

Article 110. Relief from court expenses

110.1 The following persons shall be granted relief from payment of state duty for cases considered by courts:

110.1.1 authors - on disputes arising out of authorship; plaintiffs - on disputes arising out of author’s rights, rights for invention, utility model, industrial design, as well as from other rights over intellectual property;

110.1.2 plaintiffs - on claims arising out of recovery of alimonies;

110.1.3 plaintiffs - on claims for compensation of losses caused by injuries, other harm to health or death of breadwinner;

110.1.4 bodies of social insurance and protection - on regress claims for recovery from persons, who caused harm, of allowances, paid to a person suffering injury or to members of his family;

110.1.5 police authorities - on claims for recovery of expenses incurred for search of persons refusing to pay alimonies, persons avoiding payment of compensation for injuries, other harm to health or death of a breadwinner, as well as persons avoiding payment of taxes and other obligatory contributions;

110.1.6 plaintiffs - on claims for compensation of material loss caused by crime;

110.1.7 plaintiffs-prosecutors - on claims for compensation of losses caused to the state by crime;

110.1.8 consumers - on claims related to violation of rights;

110.1.9 plaintiffs - on claims for recovery of social protection allowances;

110.1.10 plaintiffs - on claims for recovery of amounts which had to be withheld from a debtor, but have not been withheld due to a fault by a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur, or of amounts which were withheld from a debtor, but have not been transferred to a creditor due to a fault by the aforementioned legal entities and individuals;

110.1.11 parties - on disputes concerned with compensation of losses caused to an individual through illegal confinement, arrest or imposition of administrative sanctions in form of correctional labor;

110.1.12 minors - from petitions filed for protection of their rights;

110.1.13 state authorities - from applications filed for protection of rights, freedoms and legally protected interests of other persons, state interests;

110.1.14 persons participating in case - from complaints on court writs;

110.1.15 parties- from applications filed with the court of the first instance for reconsideration of decisions passed in course of proceeding in-absentia;

110.1.16 parties - from applications for re-hearing of acts of court, which have entered into force, due to establishment of new circumstances.

110.2 Legislation may provide for other cases of exemption from payment of state duty.

110.3 Copies of acts of court shall be submitted to persons participating in case without payment of any state duty. State duty shall be paid upon any further issue of an act of court.

Article 111. Delay or instalment of payment of court expenses and decrease of their amounts

Depending upon property status of parties, court shall have the right to grant one or both parties’ relief from payment of court expenses, establish procedure for payment of court expenses in instalments or reduce amount of court expenses.

Article 112. Price of claim

112.1 Price of claim shall be determined as follows:

112.1.1 in claims for recovery of money - amount to be recovered;

112.1.2 in claims for recovery of property - value of property;

112.1.3 in claims for recovery of alimonies - cumulative payments for the period of one year;

112.1.4 in claims for termed grant or payment - cumulative payments and grants, for the period of up to 3 years;

112.1.5 in claims for open-term or life-term payments - cumulative payments for 3 years;

112.1.6 in claims for increase or decrease of payments - amounts of decrease or increase of payments, for the period of up to one year;

112.1.7 in claims for cancellation of payments - cumulative balance of payments and grants, for the period of up to one year;

112.1.8 in claims for early termination of an agreement on lease of property - cumulative payments for the use of property for the remaining portion of the term of agreement, for the period of up to 3 years;

112.1.9 in claims with respect to the ownership right of physical persons over constructions - cost of construction, but not less than inventory value, in case of absence of such information - not less than value under the contract of insurance, and over constructions of legal entities - not less than balance value of the construction;

112.1.10 in claims composed of several independent demands total of all claims; ­

112.1.11 in claims for recognition of execution or any other documents serving basis for uncontested recovery of funds as executable documents - disputed amount;

112.1.12 in claims on recognition of execution or any other documents serving basis for uncontested recovery of funds as not subject to execution- amount in dispute;

112.1.13 in claims for plots of land- determined cost of a plot of land, and in case of absence of such - market value.

112.2 Price of claim shall include financial sanctions (fines, penalties) indicated in claim.

112.3 Counter claim shall be paid out upon rules applicable to principal claim.

112.4 Price of claim shall be shown by plaintiff. In case of incorrect indication of price of claim, price shall be determined by the court.

Article 113. Payment of balance of state duty

113.1 Where it is difficult to establish price of claim at the moment of filing of the appropriate petition, amount of state duty shall be preliminarily established by judge with further recovery of balance of the duty in accordance with price of claim established by court in course of settlement of case.

113.2 In case of increase of claimed amounts, balance of duty shall be paid as per increase of price of claim.

Article 114. Reimbursement of state duty

114.1 State duty shall be reimbursed under the following circumstances:

114.1.1 payment of state duty in the amount exceeding the requirements of existing laws;

114.1.2 refusal to accept petition for consideration in accordance with grounds stipulated by this Code;

114.1.3 return of petition upon grounds stipulated by this Code;

114.1.4 cancellation of case proceeding in accordance with grounds stipulated by this Code;

114.1.5 leaving a petition pending in accordance with grounds stipulated by this Code;

114.1.6 return of appellate complaint or cancellation of appellate proceeding in accordance with grounds stipulated by this Code.

114.2 In cases provided by Article 114.1.1 of this Code, state duty shall be compensated in the amount overpaid. State duty shall also be compensated in other cases stipulated by the laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Court shall pass a writ on reimbursement of state duty, which writ shall indicate grounds for full or partial reimbursement of state duty.

Article 115. Costs associated with hearing of case

115.0 The followings shall be considered costs associated with hearing of case:

115.0.1 amounts to be paid to witnesses, experts, specialists and interpreters;

115.0.2 expenses for carrying out on - site investigation;

115.0.3 expenses for notification and call of parties to court;

115.0.4 expenses of parties and third parties for transportation and lease of dwelling premises incurred in association with appearance before court;

115.0.5 expenses on compensation of assistance of representatives;

115.0.6 expenses on compensation of assistance of lawyers;

115.0.7 expenses on locating a respondent;

115.0.8 expenses on execution of resolution;

115.0.9 other necessary expenses as stipulated by court.

Article 116. Payments to witnesses, experts, specialists, interpreters

116.1 Witnesses, experts, specialists, interpreters shall be compensated for the amounts of transportation expenses and expenses for the lease of dwelling premises incurred in association with appearance before the court and shall further be paid per diem expenses.

116.2 Where actions performed by an expert or a specialist do not fall within their official duties, such experts and specialists shall receive compensation for the work done upon assignment of court. Amount of remuneration, expenses for lease shall be determined by court within reasonable limits further to consent of persons participating in the case.

116.3 Payment of remuneration to interpreters and reimbursement of their expenses incurred in association with appearance before court shall be made on the account of resources from the state budget. Employees called to court as witnesses shall keep their average salary for period of absence from their position due to appearance before court. Witnesses, who do not have any employment relationships, shall be compensated for distraction from their routine jobs in the amounts calculated with consideration of actual time and minimal salary as stipulated by law.

Article 117. Recovery of payments to witnesses, experts, specialists, interpreters from parties

117.1 Amounts to be paid to witnesses, experts and specialists, as well as any other necessary expenses shall be in advance deposited at the court’s account by the party ­ making the relevant request. Where a request is made by both parties, or where a witness has been called, an expert has been appointed, a specialist has been invited and other payable actions have been performed upon initiative of court, required amounts shall be deposited by the parties to the court’s account in equal instalments. ­

117.2 The amount indicated in Article 117.1 of this Code shall not be paid by the party that has been exempted from paying court costs and shall be covered at the expense of the state.

Article 118. Payments to witnesses, experts, specialists and interpreters

118.1 Payments to witnesses, experts, specialists and interpreters shall be made by court from court’s deposit account upon fulfillment ­by the former of their obligations.

118.2 Amount and method of payment shall be established by the relevant body of executive authority of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Article 119. Distributions of court expenses between parties

119.1 Court expenses shall be covered by persons participating in case pro rata to securing of a claim.

119.2 State duty, which has not been paid by plaintiff due to his exemption, shall be recovered from respondent and paid into the state budget pro rata to secured claims.

119.3 Where a claim has been brought following a breach by a person participating in case of provisions of an out-of-court settlement procedures and contractual provisions (failure to reply to claim, failure to send requested documentation), court shall be entitled to recover court expenses irrespective of outcome of case.

119.4 Upon agreement of persons participating in case on distribution of court expenses, court shall pass a decision further to such agreement.

119.5 Court expenses incurred by persons participating in the case upon filing an appellate or cassation complaint shall also be distributed in accordance with the procedures stipulated in Articles 119.1-119.4 of this Code.

119.6 Where a court of a higher instance changes an initial resolution or passes a new resolution without transfer of a case to new hearing, such court shall accordingly modify distribution of court expenses.

Article 120. Charging a payment for the loss of case time

Court shall have the right to recover from a party filing a non-substantiated claim or disputing a claim in a bad faith or causing repeated interruptions on course of fair and speedy consideration and settlement of the case compensation in favor of the state or of an opposite party for the loss of case time. Amount of such payment shall be established by court with consideration of actual circumstances within reasonable limits.

Article 121. Remuneration to representative and lawyer for their assistance

121.1 Court shall have the right to award a party in whose favor the resolution is issued with a reasonable payment from the opposite party for compensation of expenses incurred with respect to assistance provided by representative or lawyer with consideration of such expenses being incurred under particular circumstances and upon presentation of an invoice for the work done.

121.2 A lawyer, involved in the case on the grounds stipulated by Article 67 of this Code, provides legal assistance to the persons who cannot afford retaining a lawyer at their own expense due to their financial situation free of charge and at the expense of the state budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan by the court's decision. This payment that has been made in the amount determined by the legislation can be paid to the state budget at the expense of the person against whom the court decision was issued in proportion to the provided justified part of the claim.

Article 122. Distribution of court expenses and expenses on remuneration of lawyer in case of refusal from claim and amicable agreement

122.1 Where a plaintiff refuses from claim, court expenses of the former shall not be compensated by a respondent.

122.2 Where a plaintiff does not support his claims due to voluntary acknowledgement of said claims by a respondent following claim petition, court shall, upon request of plaintiff, recover from respondent all court expenses in respect of case.

122.3 Where parties enter into an amicable agreement court expenses and expenses for remuneration of lawyers shall be distributed in accordance with agreement of parties.

Article 123. Compensation of court expenses to respondent in case of refusal from claim

Where a person applying, under the procedure stipulated in the law, to court for protection of rights and freedoms, protected by law interest of other persons, refuses from claim in full or in any part thereof, respondent shall, on the account of the state budget, receive compensation for the full amount of his court expenses or for the portion of his court expenses corresponding to scope of claim which have been refused from.

Article 124. Compensation of court expenses incurred by court in course of hearing of case

124.1 Expenses incurred by court in course of hearing of case, and state duty, which has not been paid by a plaintiff in virtue of exemption, shall be recovered from a respondent for the benefit of the state budget in proportion to the secured portion of claims.

124.2 Where a claim has been rejected, expenses incurred by court in course of hearing of case shall be recovered, for the benefit of the state, from plaintiff not holding an exemption from payment of such court expenses.

124.3 Where claims have been secured in part, and respondent holds an exemption from payment of court expenses, expenses incurred by a court in course of hearing of case shall be recovered, for the benefit of the state, from plaintiff holding exemption from payment of court expenses pro rata to that portion of claims which have been rejected.

Article 125. Complaints from writs on court expenses

It shall be permitted to file complaints from writs issued with respect to court expenses.

CHAPTER 9.

Court fines

Article 126. Imposition of court fines

126.1 Court fines shall be imposed by court in cases and amount stipulated by this Code.

126.2 Fines imposed upon officials of state authorities, legal entities and other organizations participating or otherwise in course of hearing of case for breach of their duties stipulated by law shall be recovered from their personal resources.

126.3 Writ on imposition of fine shall be associated with case to which such fine relates and shall be attached to the case file.

126.4 Copy of writ on imposition of fine shall be sent to a person subjected to such fine.

Article 127. Withdrawal or reduction of fine

127.1 Person subjected to fine shall have the right to request court imposing such fine to withdraw fine or to reduce amount thereof within twenty days from the date of receipt of copy of court writ on imposition of fine.

127.2 Such petition shall be considered in court session and shall be attached to case materials. Person subjected to fine shall be notified of place and time of the session. Failure of this person to appear before court shall not prevent court from considering the petition.

127.3 Court writ on refusal to withdraw or to reduce amount of fine may be appealed in the appellate order.

CHAPTER 10.

Procedural periods

Article 128. Establishment and calculation of procedural periods

128.1 Procedural actions shall be exercised within time limits stipulated by this Code and laws. Where procedural periods have not been established by law, such periods shall be set by the court.

128.2 Periods for exercise of procedural actions shall be stipulated by the particular calendar date accompanied with the reference to an event of an inevitable occurrence or by reference to a period of time during which an action may be exercised.

128.3 Procedural periods calculated in years, months or days shall commence on the day following the calendar date or commencement of event, which stipulates commencement of a period.

Article 129. Expiration of procedural periods

129.1 Periods calculated in years shall expire at the relevant month and day of the last year of the term. Periods calculated in months shall expire at the relevant last month and day of the term. If the end of the period calculated in months corresponds to a month, which does not have the relevant date, such period shall expire at the last day of such month.

129.2 Where last day of the period corresponds to a non-working day, the period shall expire on the first working day following such non-working day.

129.3 Procedural action with the applicable procedural period shall be exercised until 24.00 of the last day of the period. Where appellate complaint, cassation appeal, other documents or cash have been submitted to a post office before 24.00 of the last day of the period, the period shall not be considered missed.

129.4 Where a procedural action shall be exercised directly in court or in any other organization, period shall expire at times stipulated with respect to the end of a working day or closing of applicable activities at said court or organization.

Article 130. Consequences for missing procedural periods

130.1 Rights for the exercise of certain procedural actions shall terminate with expiration of a period stipulated by the law or set by the court.

130.2 Expiration of procedural periods shall not waive the relevant responsibility of a party for exercise of procedural obligations.

130.3 Where no petition is filed with respect to restoration of a procedural period, complaints and documents submitted upon expiration of procedural periods shall not be considered by the court and shall be returned to the person submitting the same.

Article 131. Suspension of procedural periods

131.1 All procedural periods continuing at the moment of suspension of proceeding on the case shall be suspended.

131.2 Procedural periods shall resume effective from the date of consummation of proceeding.

Article 132. Extension of procedural periods

It shall be permitted to extend procedural periods established by courts following the appropriate application of an interested person.

Article 133. Restoration of procedural periods

133.1 Following petition of a person participating in case, court, further to the acknowledgement of reasons for missing any periods stipulated by the law as valid, shall have the right to restore a procedural period.

133.2 Petition for restoration of a missed period shall be filed with the court, where procedural action is to be exercised, and shall be considered in a court session. Persons participating in case shall be notified of place and time of such court session. Failure of this persons to appear before the court shall not prevent the matter from being considered.

133.3 Required procedural action in respect of which period has expired (filing of complaint, appeal, submission of documents, etc.) shall be exercised simultaneously with filing a petition for restoration of period.

133.4 Restoration of a procedural period shall be referred to in a writ, resolution or a decision of the court.

133.5 Writ shall be passed on refusal to restore procedural period.

133.6 Persons participating in case shall have the right to file a complaint from writ on restoration of a procedural period.

CHAPTER 11.

Official issuance of the court documents.

Court notices.

Article 134. Official documents

134.1 Court should officially issue the following court documents to the persons participating in the case:

134.1.1 claim petition;

134.1.2 counter claim petition;

134.1.3 copies of documents prepared by parties with respect to acknowledgement of or refusal from the claims;

134.1.4 court notice;

134.1.5 acts of courts of first, court of appellate and cassation instance;

134.1.6 writ referring to cancellation of case proceeding;

134.1.7 court order;

134.1.8 copy of an appellate complaint;

134.1.9 copy of a cassation complaint.

134.2 Where necessary, court may also officially issue other court documents relevant to the case.

Article 135. Issue and official issuance of court document

135.1 Excluding the cases specified in Articles 135.6 and 135.8 of this Code, court documents listed in Article 134 of this code are issued by the mail order (letter) stipulated by the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan On Post. If necessary, the issue of the court document may be assigned to the court employee by the judge or may be entrusted to the said person by the consent of the person involved in the case.

135.2 Court documents are given to the addressee personally by the communication bodies or persons charged with issuing the court documents by signing the receipt or stump of the document in the officially authorized form that needs to be returned to the court. Court documents addressed to the legal entity are given to the relevant official by signing the receipt or stub of the document. The official issuance of court documents may also be carried out in court.

135.3 If the person responsible for issuing the court documents does not find the address holder on the place where he lives or works, those documents are given to one of the adult family members (with their consent) living with the address holder, to the relevant executive body and local self-government body at the place of residence of the addressee if family members are not there or to the management at his workplace. The person who has accepted the court documents instead of the address holder must indicate his surname, name, patronymic, relationship to the address holder or the position he holds at the receipt or the stump of the document and give the court documents to the address holder as soon as possible.

135.4 The communication bodies or persons charged with the issue of the court documents must do so no later than the day following the date of receipt of the court documents and notify the court within one day of issue of the court documents.

135.5 In the cases stipulated by Articles 135.2, 135.3, 135.6 and 135.8 of this Code, the court document is considered to be officially issued.

135.6 If the persons participating in civil cases in the courts where the Electronic Court Information System is being applied are registered in the Electronic Court Information System, the court documents are entered to their “electronic cabinets” created in the same system and the information about this is sent to them electronically through this system (via e-mail, SMS, etc.).

135.7 If the persons participating in civil cases in the courts where the Electronic Court Information System is being applied are not registered in the Electronic Court Information System, the information about the court documents is issued to them via this system by SMS to the mobile phone number provided by the person.

135.8 The court documents of the persons participating in the cases of economic disputes are entered to their “electronic cabinets” created in the Electronic Court Information System and the information about this is sent to them electronically through this system (via e-mail, SMS, etc.).

Article 136. Content of the receipt

136.0. The following shall be indicated in the receipt stipulated by Article 135 of this Code:

136.0.1. name and address of the court;

136.0.2. surname, name, patronymic of the person to whom the court documents shall be issued or the name and place of residence of the legal entity;

136.0.3. title of the issued court document;

136.0.4. time (date and hour) and place of issue;

136.0.5. reasons for failure to issue court documents (refuse to receive, failure to be at the specified address, wrong address, etc.);

136.0.6. the person to whom the court document is issued;

136.0.7. signature of the person or representative of the communication body who is charged with issuing the court document. 

Article 137. Refusal to accept court documents

137.1. If the person to whom the court documents are issued refuses to accept them without legal basis, the court documents shall remain at the address where they are issued. In this case, court documents are considered officially issued.

137.2. If the resident or other person refuses to accept the notice of the court, the person who has submitted it will return the notice to the court after making relevant notes in the court notice. In this case, the notice of court is considered officially issued.

137.3. The note on refusal to receive the notification of the court by the resident is approved by the local self-government body, the relevant executive body or the head of his place of work at his place of residence.

137.4. Refusal to accept these documents by the person to whom the notification of the court is addressed is not an obstacle for consideration of the case or for making separate procedural actions.

Article 138. Court notices

138.1. The court should notify the persons involved in the case about the time and location of the hearing, their procedural rights and responsibilities, as well as separate procedural actions.

138.2. The persons involved in the case are notified about the time and location of the hearing, their procedural rights and responsibilities, as well as performing separate procedural actions through a court notice while the witnesses, experts, specialists and interpreters are summoned to the court through a court notice.

138.3. In order to allow the persons involved in the case to prepare their defense and come to the court on time, the court notice is given to them at least 10 days prior to the date of the court hearing or relevant procedural action.

138.4. If necessary and in the cases stipulated by the law, the persons involved in the case and other participants of the case in the proceedings may be notified or called upon by using means of communication that ensures the transmission of the content of the court notice as well as by a court employee according to the order of the court.

138.5. If the persons involved in economic disputes are registered in the Electronic Court Information System, the court notices are entered to the electronic cabinets created in this system and information about this is sent to them electronically (via e-mail, SMS, etc.).

Article 139. Content of the court notice

139.1. The court notice is drawn up as an official document of the court and in a duly approved form.

139.2. The court notice shall include following:

139.2.1. name, address of the court and contact information (index, phone number, fax etc.);

139.2.2. time (date and hour) and location of arrival;

139.2.3. surname, name, patronymic of the person that has been notified or summoned to court or name of the legal entity;

139.2.4. address of the person that has been notified or summoned to court or place of residence of the legal entity;

139.2.5. the role in which the addressee has been summoned to the court;

139.2.6. name of the case for which the resident is notified or summoned;

139.2.7. proposal on submission of all evidence on case to the persons involved in the case;

139.2.7-1. explanation of the procedural rights and duties of the persons involved in the case;

139.2.8. note on the duty of the person receiving the court notice to give it to the resident as soon as possible in case of absence of the resident;

139.2.9. note on the reasons of failure of the notified or summoned person to attend court and duty to inform the court on the reasons of failure to attend court.

Article 140. Responsibility for refusal to accept the court document for issue to the addressee or non-issuing of it as a result of negligence

Bodies, officials or other persons charged with issuing the court document that refused to accept the court document for issuing to the addressee or did not issue it to him as a result of negligence shall be fined twenty Manats in accordance with the procedure stipulated by Article 126 of this Code.

Article 141. Contents of writ or summon

141.1 Writ or summon shall constitute an official court document and shall be prepared in accordance with the approved form.

141.2 The following information shall be contained in the text of a writ or summon:

141.2.1 name and full address of the court (telephone, fax, postal code, etc.);

141.2.2 indication of time (date and time [in hours and minutes]) and place of appearance before the court;

141.2.3 information on person to be notified or called to the court (last name, first name and patronymic);

141.2.4 address of person to be notified or called to the court (place of residence, or place of location of a legal entity);

141.2.5 indication of a role of notified or called recipient;

141.2.6 case title for which writ or summon is issued to recipient;

141.2.7 proposal to all persons participating in case to submit the evidence they have in their possession;

 141.2.8 reference to a duty of a person accepting a writ or summon in the absence of the proposed recipient to pass said writ or summon to said recipient at the first opportunity;

141.2.9 reference to liability for failure of a called or notified person to appear before the court and responsibility to notify the court on reasons of such failure.

141.3 Along with writ, judge shall have the right to send a respondent copy of claim petition and copies of documents attached thereto.

141.4 Along with writ addressed to plaintiff, judge shall send such a plaintiff copies of respondent’s explanations and copies of ­ other documents, provided that such explanations and documents have been submitted to the court.

Article 142. Submission of writ

142.1 Writs shall be issued by post or through persons commissioned by the judge. Time of presentation of writ to the recipient shall be shown on the part of the writ to be returned to the court.

142.2 Judge, upon consent of a person participating in case, shall have the right to give this person writ for issue to other person to be notified or called in relation to the case.

142.3 Authorities responsible for issue of writs, or person instructed to issue a writ, shall perform such actions during the day following a day of receipt of such writ.

142.4 Authorities or officials, as well as appropriate persons, failing, due to their negligence, to issue a writ shall, under the stipulated procedure, be liable for expression of disrespect to the court.

142.5 Authorities, which further to their duties are obliged to issue a writ or person instructed to issue a writ, shall notify the court on failure to issue a writ during the day following a day of submission of the writ.

Article 143. Presentation of writ

143.1 Writ shall be presented to a recipient, such presentation being confirmed by signing a portion of the writ to be returned to the court. Writs addressed to a legal entity shall be presented to the relevant official, such presentation being confirmed by signing a portion of the writ by the latter.

143.2 Where a person, issuing a writ, is, following verification of accuracy of the address of the proposed recipient, unable to locate a person to be notified or called to the court at his place of residence or employment, a writ shall, subject to consent of such member, be presented to an adult member of the family living with the proposed recipient, and where there are no this persons to the relevant bodies of executive ­ authorities, local self-governing bodies at place of residence or management at place of work of the recipient. In such cases a person receiving a writ shall show his last name, first name and patronymic, as well as position and relationship to the addressee on the portion of the writ. Person accepting a writ shall at the first opportunity and without any delays present a writ to the proposed recipient.

143.3 In case of temporary absence of the recipient, a person issuing a writ shall make notes on the part of the writ to be returned to the court and indicate place where addressee has left and the expected date of return. Such information shall be confirmed by the relevant body of executive authorities, authority at his place of residence or management at his place of work and shall be immediately notified to the court.

Article 144. Obligation to appear before court

144.1 Person receiving a writ shall appear before court at time stipulated in the writ.

144.2 Recipient shall inform the court on inability to appear before the court.

144.3 Failure of an individual to appear before the court in person or through representative due to invalid reasons shall testify silent consent with respect to claims made and shall not prevent the case from being considered.

144.4 In exceptional cases, court shall secure respondent’s ­ appearance before the court through the relevant bodies of executive authorities.

Article 145. Consequences of refusal to accept writ or summon

145.1 Where a proposed recipient or other persons refuse to accept a writ or summon, person issuing or presenting said writ or summon shall make respective notes on writ or summon and shall return such writ or summon to the court.

145.2 Note on refusal of the proposed recipient to accept a writ or summon shall be certified by the local self-governing bodies at his place of residence, relevant bodies of executive authorities or management at his place of work.

145.3 Refusal of the proposed recipient to accept a writ or summon shall testify his ­ silent consent with respect to claims made ­ and shall not prevent the case from being considered or individual procedural actions from being performed.

145.4 Refusal of a person to accept a writ for passing to its addressee shall be treated as disrespect to the court and shall entail imposition of fine in the amount of 10 minimum salaries.

Article 146. Change of the address during the proceeding on case

Persons participating in court and representatives shall notify the court on change of their address in the course of the court proceeding. Where there is no information on this, court notices shall be issued to the last address that is known to the court and this notice shall be considered officially issued even if the summoned person is no longer residing at this address.

Article 147. Lack of knowledge on place of location of the respondent

In case of lack of knowledge on actual place of location of a respondent, court shall commence court proceeding upon receiving the court notice containing a note confirming its receipt from the local self-governing body or relevant executive body of his last known place of residence or management at his last known workplace.

Article 148. Search for the respondent

148.1 In cases of lack of knowledge on place of location of a respondent on cases concerning state interests, as well as recovery of alimonies, compensation of losses caused by injuries, damage to health or death of breadwinner, court shall announce search of such respondent through police authorities.

148.2 Recovery of expenses for search of respondent shall be made by court order upon petition of the authority ordered to conduct a search.

SECTION II

PROCEEDING IN COURT

OF FIRST INSTANCE

Subsection 1.

Claim proceeding

CHAPTER 12.

Filing a claim

Article 149. Form and contents of application for claim

149.1 Claim petition shall be filed in a written form. Claim petition shall be signed by a plaintiff or by a duly authorized representative.

149.2 The following information shall be contained in the text of claim petition:

149.2.1 name of court to which claim is submitted;

149.2.2 names and addresses of the parties;

149.2.3 claim of a plaintiff or an applicant, grounds constituting basis for such claims, norms of law constituting grounds for claims relying upon provisions of laws and other normative legal acts and where a claim is filed against several respondents, reference to a ­ claim against each of these respondents;

149.2.4 where provided by contract or with respect to certain categories of cases by law, reference to compliance with the out-of-court (pretension) procedure for the settlement of dispute;

149.2.5 list of documents attached to the petition.

149.3 Plaintiff shall have the right to submit several interrelated claims by one claim petition.

149.4 Petition shall also refer to other information required for fair settlement of the case, as well as to petitions of the plaintiff.

Article 150. Documents attached to claim petition

150.0 The following documents shall be attached to claim petition:

150.0.1 copies of petition in number corresponding to the number of respondents and third parties;

150.0.2 evidence of payment of state duty;

150.0.3 a document certifying that the claim petition has been signed by an authorized person;

150.0.4 in economical disputes - document certifying issue of copies of claim petition and attachments thereto to other persons participating in the case;

150.0.5 documents proving circumstances upon which plaintiff basis his claims, copies of such documents for respondent and third parties where they do not have these documents in their possession;

150.0.6 text of a normative act if it is being disputed;

150.0.7 where provided by contract or with respect to certain categories of cases by law, document certifying compliance with the out-of-court or pretension procedure for the settlement of dispute.

Article 151. Acceptability of claim petition

151.1 Court proceeding with respect to a claim petition shall be permitted upon submission of the petition in compliance with the requirements of this Code.

151.2 Where necessary the matter of acceptability of claim petition shall be considered with participation of parties upon the principle of contentiousness.

151.3 Claim petition (excluding the claim petitions considered under the simplified proceeding for cases on minor claims) shall be considered to be accepted if the court has not returned or refused to accept it within 10 days from its receipt.

Article 152. Refusal to accept claim petition

152.1 Judge shall return claim petition and documents attached thereto:

152.1.1 where the requirements of Article 149 of this Code with respect to form and contents of claim petition have not been complied with;

152.1.2 where the claim petition is not signed or signed by an unauthorized person or by a person whose official status is not indicated;

152.1.3 where a case shall not be considered by this particular court due to principles of territorial relevance;

152.1.4 where with respect to economic disputes - no evidence of receipt of claim petition by the opposite parties is submitted;

152.1.5 where no document certifying payment of a state duty through due procedures and in due amount is submitted;

152.1.6 where no document certifying compliance with the out-of-court (pretension) procedure for the settlement of dispute with respondent is submitted, provided that such procedure is provided for by contract or with respect to certain categories of cases by law;

152.1.7 where several unrelated claims against one or more respondents have been joined into one claim petition;

152.1.8 where no document certifying application by plaintiff to bank or other credit institution for recovery of debt is submitted, provided that such debt is, further to the provisions of law, other normative legal acts or a contract, subject to recovery through bank or credit institution;

152.1.9 where plaintiff’s petition for return of claim ­petition is received prior to issue of a writ on taking claim petition into proceeding.

152.2 Judge shall pass a substantiated writ on returning the claim petition.

152.3 It shall be permitted to file a complaint from writ on returning of the claim petition. Where a writ is cancelled, claim petition shall be considered submitted to the court on the date of application.

152.4 Returning of the claim petition shall not prevent second application to the court upon elimination of deficiencies.

Article 153. Refusal to accept claim petition due to non-permissibility of claim

153.1 Claim petition received by court shall be obligatorily registered on the date of receipt.

153.2 Under the following circumstances judge shall refuse to accept claim petition due to non-permissibility of claim:

153.2.1 where claim is not in court competence;

153.2.2 where there is a court resolution with respect to a dispute between the same parties, with respect to the same subject matter and upon the same grounds, or where there is a court resolution on cancellation of case proceeding further to plaintiff’s ­ refusal from his claim, or on approval of an amicable agreement between the parties;

153.2.3 where there is a valid arbitration award, except for the cases where the court refuses to issue an execution writ for arbitration award with respect to a dispute between the same parties, with respect to the same subject matter and upon the same grounds, or where the case is returned to arbitration which has passed a decision, but such re-hearing is not possible;

153.2.4 where there is a case under consideration of another court with respect to a dispute between the same parties, with respect to the same subject matter and upon the same grounds.

153.3 Judge shall pass a substantiated writ on refusal to accept claim petition. Where a case is not subject to consideration in court, name of the proper authority shall be shown in the text of the writ.

153.4 Writ on refusal to accept claim petition shall, along with all documents attached to claim petition, be officially issued to the applicant.

153.5 Refusal to accept claim petition shall prevent any further claim petition against the same respondent, with respect to the same subject matter and upon the same grounds.

153.6 It shall be permitted to file a complaint from writ on refusal to accept claim petition. Where writ is cancelled, claim petition shall be considered submitted to the court on the date of application.

Article 154. Objection or response to claim petition

154.1 The person participating in case shall within the term allocated for submission of explanations on claim have the right to present to court his objection and response along with the accompanying documents, and with respect to economic disputes evidence of ­ sending the appropriate response to the opposite party.

154.2 The following information shall be contained in the text of objection or response:

154.2.1 name of court to which response is addressed;

154.2.2 name of plaintiff and case number;

154.2.3 in case of rejection of claims - grounds for full or partial rejection of claims made by plaintiff with references to relevant laws and legal normative acts, as well as evidence motivating objections;

154.2.4 list of documents attached to objection or response.

154.3 Objection or response may also contain other information, as well as petitions of respondent.

154.4 Response shall be signed by a person participating in case or a representative thereof. Power of attorney certifying authorities of a representative shall be attached to a response signed by such representative.

Article 155. Filing a counterclaim

155.1 Respondent has the right to make a counterclaim to the plaintiff to be considered together with the original claim. Counterclaim should be filed prior to the consideration of the case.

155.2 Filing counter claim shall be possible where grounds for such action has been established in course of court hearing.

155.3 Filing counterclaim shall be made in accordance with the general rules for submitting a claim.

Article 156. Conditions for accepting a counterclaim

156.1 Under the following circumstances judge shall accept a counterclaim:

156.1.1. where a counterclaim is directed at the mutual payment of the first claim;

156.1.2 where securing of a counterclaim in full or in part rules out securing of primary claim;

156.1.3 where there is a mutual relationship between counterclaim and primary claim and their joint hearing will lead to a fairer and faster settlement of a dispute.

156.2 Where necessary or upon petition of a person filing a counterclaim, matter of acceptance of a counterclaim shall be considered with participation of a person filing a counterclaim or persons participating in case.

CHAPTER 13.

Securing of a claim

Article 157. Grounds for securing of a claim

157.1 The judge may take measures to secure the claim (except for claims filed in connection with the bank and (or) its assets during the voluntary restructuring of its liabilities) upon application of the person participating in the case. Securing of a claim shall be permitted at any stage of the process.

157.2 Implementation of measures for securing of a claim for the purposes of further securing future execution of resolution shall constitute a temporary action and shall not predetermine passing of a resolution on case in its merits.

Article 158. Measures for securing of a claim petition

158.1 It shall be permitted to undertake the following measures for the purpose of securing of a claim:

158.1.1 imposition of arrest upon property of respondent or other persons;

158.1.2 prohibition of respondent from performance of certain actions;

158.1.3 prohibition of other persons from performance of certain actions related to subject matter of dispute;

158.1.4 suspension of sale of property in case of submission of claim petition on withdrawal of arrest over the property;

158.1.5 suspension of recovery upon execution deed, lawfulness of which is being disputed by a debtor in court;

158.1.6 suspension of recovery upon execution or any other deed on non-contested withholding, lawfulness of which is being disputed by plaintiff in the court.

158.1.7. To ensure payment and storage of debt receivables to special accounts in cases specified by the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan On Encumbrance of Movable Property.

158.2 If necessary, court shall, for the purpose of securing of a claim, take other measures stipulated by relevant articles of this Code. Court shall have the right to apply several methods of securing of a claim.

158.3 Imposition of arrest over property shall be executed in the following order:

158.3.1 in the first order - property of respondent not directly involved into production process: securities, funds on respondent’s accounts, currency reserves, passenger vehicles, office design equipment, etc.;

158.3.2 in the second order - ready production (goods), as well as other material valuables, not directly involved into production process and not intended to be directly applied in course of production process;

158.3.3 in the third order - immovable property, as well as raw materials, equipment, tools, other fixed assets stipulated for direct application in course of production;

158.3.4 in the fourth order- property transferred to other persons.

158.4 Inventory of property shall be carried out within the limits of claim petition.

158.5 In case of breach of rules stipulated by Articles 158.1.3 and 158.1.3 of this Code, physical persons and legal entities shall be fined as follows:

158.5.1 on claims subject to valuation - in the amount of 50% of value of claim;

158.5.2 on claims not subject to valuation - in the amount of 220 Manats.

158.6 Plaintiff shall have the right to require, under the court proceeding, said persons to compensate losses caused by non-fulfilment of a writ on securing of a claim.

Article 159. Considering a petition on securing of a claim

159.1 Petition on securing of a claim shall be considered by the judge reviewing a dispute immediately from the date of receipt of the petition.

159.2 Judge shall render a writ following review of the petition.

159.3 Persons involved in the case, who are not present at session for review of petition, shall be notified of the writ.

Article 160. Execution of writ on securing of a claim

160.1 Writ on securing of a claim shall be executed immediately in the procedure stipulated for execution of court resolutions.

160.2 Writ of execution shall be issued in respect of writ on securing of a claim.

Article 161. Substitution of methods of securing of a claim

161.1 It shall be permitted to substitute one method of securing of a claim with another further to petition of a person participating in case.

161.2 Substitution of one method of securing of a claim with another shall be resolved in a court session. Persons participating in case shall be notified of time and place of such court session, however their failure to appear before the court shall not prevent the matter of securing of one method of securing of a claim with another from being considered.

161.3 In case of securing of a claim on recovery of monetary resources, respondent shall have the right to substitute securing of a claim by transferring the amount claimed by the plaintiff into the court’s deposit account. ­

Article 162. Cancellation of the securing of a claim

162.1 Securing of a claim may be cancelled by the initiative of the court or by the request of the parties by this court itself. When the resolution stipulated by Article 355-17.3 of this Code is adopted, measures taken to secure previously submitted claims on a bank and (or) its assets should be repealed.

162.2 Cancellation of securing of a claim shall be settled in a court session. Persons participating in case shall be notified of time and place of such session. Failure of this persons to appear before the court shall not prevent hearing of the matter on cancellation of securing of a claim from being considered.

162.3 Where a claim is rejected, measures for securing of a claim adopted by court shall remain effective until the effective date of the resolution. However, court shall have the right simultaneously with or following its resolution issue a writ on cancellation of measures for securing of a claim.

162.4 In case of satisfaction of claims, measures for securing of a claim shall remain valid until execution of court resolution.

Article 163. Complaint from writ on securing of a claim

163.1 It shall be permitted to file a complaint from writs on securing of a claim.

163.2 Where a writ has been passed without notification of a person filing a complaint, term for filing a complaint shall be calculated from the date when such a person has become aware of said writ.

163.3 Filing of complaint from writ on securing of a claim shall not stop execution of said writ. 163.4 Filing of complaint from writ on cancellation of securing of a claim or substitution of one method of securing of a claim with another shall stop execution of writ.

Article 164. Compensation of losses caused to respondent by securing of a claim

Following effective date of the writ on rejection of the claim, respondent shall have the right to request plaintiff to compensate losses caused by court actions taken in pursuit of measures for securing of a claim.

CHAPTER 14.

Preparation of case for hearing in court

Article 165. Duty to prepare case for hearing by court

Judge shall, with consideration of the principle of contentiousness, perform all actions necessary for preparation of case for hearing by court, its consideration on its merits and passing a resolution.

Article 166. Writ on preparation of case for hearing in court

166.1 Judge shall render writ on preparation of case for hearing in court.

166.2 Writ shall refer to actions to be performed in connection with preparation of the case for hearing, setting a court session, as well as place and time of the session.

166.3. The preliminary hearing of the court is appointed no later than 15 (fifteen) days after the entry of the application into court. This period may be extended for no longer than 15 (fifteen) days by the writ of the court due to the multiplicity of the number of persons involved in the case or the especially complex organization of the consideration.

166.4. Persons participating in the case shall be informed about the preliminary hearing in the manner stipulated by this Code at least 5 (five) working days prior to the hearing.

Article 167. Actions of judge in course of preparation of case for hearing in court

167.1 In course of preparation of case for hearing in court and with consideration of the principle of contentiousness, judge shall perform the following actions:

167.1.1 provide persons participating in case with information on case proceeding, discuss with said persons the matter of bringing the claim before the court;

167.1.2 take, with participation of a respondent or respondents, from plaintiff explanations as for the essence of the claim, consider objection raised by respondent, propose, where necessary, submission of supplementary evidence, explain plaintiff his procedural rights and obligations;

167.1.3 call respondent, ask him, with participation of a plaintiff, on circumstances of the case, clarify his objections and evidence proving said objections, on especially complicated cases propose to submit within the stipulated period of time written objection on case with copy to plaintiff, explain respondent his procedural rights and obligations;

167.1.4 settle matters of participation of joint plaintiffs and joint respondents or third parties, as well matter of substitution of improper parties;

167.1.5 explain to parties their right to apply to arbitration and consequences of such arbitration; 167.1.6 take measures for amicable settlement of dispute;

167.1.7 notify physical persons and legal entities interested in outcome of proceeding on time and place of the hearing;

167.1.8 settle matters associated with call of witnesses;

167.1.9 appoint, upon petition of parties or further to his own initiative, expert examination, as well as resolve matters on participation of specialists and interpreters;

167.1.10 request evidence from physical persons and legal entities upon petition of parties;

167.1.11 in urgent cases and with notification of persons participating in case carry out review of written and material evidence at their place of location;

167.1.12 send court assignments;

167.1.13 take measures on securing of a claim.

167.2 Judge shall also perform other actions for fair and timely settlement of a dispute.

Article 168. Sending copies of petition and attachments to the respondent

168.1 Judge shall ensure the official issue of a copy of claim petition and documents attached to it to respondent and where necessary, shall propose the latter to submit his reply or objections and evidence in support of such objections. Judge shall explain that non-submission of evidence and objections by respondent will not prevent the case from being considered upon available evidence.

168.2 In civil cases, official issue of a copy of the claim petition and documents attached to it by plaintiff is also allowed. In such event plaintiff should provide the court with evidence of official issue of such documents.

Article 169. Combination and separation of several petitions

169.1 Where a separate hearing of claims is deemed necessary, judge shall have the right to separate one or more combined claims into separate proceeding.

169.2 Where a claim is filed by several plaintiffs or against several respondents and where separate consideration of claims is deemed necessary by judge, the latter shall have the right to separate one or more of claims of several plaintiffs or against several respondents into separate proceeding.

169.3 Where it has been established by judge that there are several identical cases with participation of the same parties, or there are several cases by sole plaintiff against different respondents or of different plaintiffs to the sole respondent and it has further been established that it is advisable to carry out proceeding on such cases in a combined manner, judge shall have the right to combine such cases into a single proceeding.

169.4 The judge may perform the actions stipulated by Article 169.1-169.3 of this Code by considering the principle of contentiousness upon hearing the persons participating in the case.

Article 170. Suspension and cancellation of the case proceeding and returning of the petition in the course of preparation of the case for hearing by court

170.1 Under circumstances referred to in Articles 254, 255, 261.0.1, 261.0.3 and 261.0.6 of this Code, it shall be permitted to suspend or cancel proceeding or, upon application of plaintiff, to return claim petition.

170.2 Judge shall pass a writ on suspension or cancellation of preparation of case for court hearing. 170.3 It shall be permitted to file a complaint from writ passed in accordance with this Article.

170.3. A complaint may be filed against the writ that has been adopted in accordance with Articles 170.1 and 170.2 of this Code.

Article 171. Setting case for hearing by court

Where a case is deemed by the judge as sufficiently prepared for hearing, judge shall notify persons participating in case of time and place of case hearing and shall issue a writ on assignment of case for hearing by court.

CHAPTER 15.

Court hearing

Article 172. Periods for hearing and settlement of cases

172.1 A case should be considered and a writ or resolution on the settlement of it issued within 3 months from the date of receipt of a petition by the court.

172.2 Cases on restoration at work, withholding alimonies, disputing resolutions and actions (inaction) of state authorities, social organizations and officials shall be heard and settled within 1 month.

172.3 Shorter periods for hearing and adopting a writ or resolution on the settlement of certain categories of cases may be stipulated by law.

Article 173. Court session

173.1. The case is considered at the court hearing. Persons participating in the case shall be notified about the hearing at least 5 (five) working days prior to the hearing.

173.2. The court consideration shall be appointed no later than 30 (thirty) days from the time of the preliminary hearing of the court being held. This period may be extended for no longer than 15 (fifteen) days by the writ of the court due to the multiplicity of the number of persons involved in the case or the especially complex organization of the consideration.

Article 174. Chairman of the court session

174.1 The judge examining case individually shall be deemed the chairman of the court session.

174.2 Chairman shall preside over a court session, providing for full, complete and fair examination of all the circumstances of the case, rights and obligations of parties and shall withdraw any matters irrelevant to case from court hearing.

174.3 Where any participant of a proceeding raises an objection against actions of chairman, such objections shall be entered into protocol of the court session. Chairman shall give explanations in respect of such actions.

174.4 Chairman shall take all the necessary measures for securing proper order in court session. His instructions shall be compulsory for all participants of the proceeding, as well as for persons present in court room.

Article 175. Direct effect and oral nature of court hearing

175.1 While hearing a case, court shall investigate case evidence, hear explanations of parties and third parties, testimonies of witnesses, expert opinions, review written evidence, examine material evidence, hear audio-recordings, review video-recordings and perform other actions in connection with hearing of the case.

175.2 Where necessary in the course of investigation of case evidence, court shall receive advice and explanations of a specialist.

175.3 Hearing of case shall be carried out in an oral form and with unchangeable composition of court.

Article 176. Order in court session

176.1 Upon court (judge) entering into a court-room secretary of court session shall announce court is coming and all persons attending court session shall stand up. Announcement of resolution or, in the event of cancellation of case without issue of resolution, court writs shall be heard by all persons attending court session in standing.

176.2 Participants of proceeding shall address a judge by saying “honorable judge” and shall give their testimonies and explanations in standing. Any exception to this rule shall be permitted only upon permission of the chairman.

176.3 Hearing of case by court shall be carried out in an environment providing for normal activity of the court and security of participants of the proceeding. Where necessary, for the purpose of creating such an environment, executive officers shall be involved in the case.

176.4 Following commencement of a court session, any entrance to or exit from courtroom shall be permitted only upon consent of the chairman.

176.5 Persons participating in the case and persons attending open court sessions have a right to make a record of the course of the court hearing by taking written notes as well as by using a computer with the permission of the court from their respective seats at the courtroom. At the court session, recording is allowed using audio recording, as well as camera and photo shooting, video recording, live broadcasting (including via mobile communication devices) with the permission of the court, taking into account the opinion of the persons involved in the case. Such action shall not disturb normal course of the court hearing and may be restricted in time.

176.5-1. The opportunity to record the court hearing by means of audio, video and other recording technical devices and to observe the hearing in a real-time regime, as well as the opportunity of the participants to participate in the hearing by using technical means without attending the hearing is provided through the Electronic Court Information System.

176.6 Persons participating in proceeding, other participants of process and all other persons present in court shall be obliged to comply with rules and instructions specified by the chairman.

Article 177. Measures in respect of violators of order in court session

177.1 Persons who fail to appear before court in due time or breach rules of court session shall be warned by the chairman on behalf of the court.

177.2 In case of repeated violation, a person participating in the case shall, upon writ of court, be removed from the courtroom.

177.3 Chairman has a right to issue a writ and to impose a fine of fifty-five Manats upon the persons permitting gross violation of court order or openly expressing disrespect to the court fine or detain them for a period of 3 to 24 hours.

177.4 Where there is indication of criminal offence in actions of a person violating the court order, judge shall pass materials to the relevant authorities for initiation of a criminal case against this person.

177.5 In case of mass violations of court order by persons attending the court session, judge shall have the right to remove all persons not participating in the case from courtroom.

177.6 Where a person participating in the case permits repeated violations of court order, it shall be permitted to remove this person from courtroom for the total duration of court hearing or any portion thereof by the writ of the court. Person permitted to re-enter into the courtroom shall have the right to receive information on procedural actions performed in his absence.

Article 178. Opening of court session

Judge shall open court session and announce which civil case is going to be considered at the time set for hearing of case.

Article 179. Checking the arrival of the court process participants

179.1 Secretary of the court session shall report to court as to persons who have been called to and appeared before court and whether court notices have been issued to persons who have failed to appear before the court and on any information related to reasons for such failure to appear.

179.2 Chairman shall establish personalities of participants who have appeared before court and shall further verify authority of the representatives and lawyers.

Article 180. Explanation to interpreter of his responsibilities

180.1 Chairman shall explain the interpreter his responsibility to translate explanations, testimonies, petitions of persons, who do not speak at a language of the proceeding, and to translate explanations, testimonies, petitions of persons participating in case and of witnesses, documents contained in case file and announced in court, audio-recordings, expert opinions, contents of recommendations of specialists, as well as of instructions of chairman, writs and resolutions of the court.

180.2 Chairman shall warn an interpreter on criminal liability for deliberately false translation, and a signed acknowledgement of the interpreter with respect to such warning shall be attached to protocol of court session.

180.3 In case of evasion from appearance before court or from fulfilment of his duties, it shall be permitted to fine the interpreter in the amount of one hundred ten Manats.

180.4 Provisions of this Article shall also apply to persons explaining the signs of deaf and mute persons (sign language interpreters).

Article 181. Removal of witnesses from the courtroom

Witnesses appearing before court shall be removed into a specifically designated room. Chairman shall take measures for preventing any kind of communication between witnesses who have already been interrogated and those who have not.

Article 182. Announcement of composition of court and explanation of right of objection

182.1 Chairman shall announce composition of the court, provide information on personalities of expert, specialist, interpreter, secretary of the court session, and shall explain to persons participating in case their right to declare objections.

182.2 Objection shall be substantiated and shall be reduced to writing. Grounds for an objection shall be expressed not at the preparation stage of the proceeding, but during court session.

182.3 Objections, grounds, procedure for settlement and satisfaction of a challenge shall be governed by Articles 19-23 of this Code.

Article 183. Explanation of their rights and duties to the persons involved in the case

Chairman determines whether the notice on explanation of procedural rights and duties is issued to the persons involved in the case. If the notice on the explanation of rights and duties is not received, it shall be submitted in a written form to each person involved in the case in the court hearing and shall be confirmed by chairman’s own signature. The chairman also explains the right to appeal to the jury’s court to resolve the dispute and the consequences thereof to the parties. The court shall explain rights and duties of the persons involved in the case at their request.

Article 184. Consideration of the case and dispute status. Settlement of the petitions of the persons participating in the case

184.1 Judge shall discuss case and dispute status with parties, clarify whether the parties have submitted all evidence or otherwise and have been familiarized with case materials or otherwise.

184.2 Failure of persons participating in the case to give a reply (objection) to claim petition or to provide additional evidence upon request of a judge shall not prevent case from being considered in accordance with materials available.

184.3 Judge shall have the right to reject petition on postponing hearing with the purpose of submission of supplementary evidence as a late petition, where such a petition may delay course of hearing of case and parties have failed to provide such evidence due to gross negligence.

184.4 Petitions of persons participating in case on matters associated with hearing of the case shall be resolved by court through court writs upon hearing of opinions of other persons participating in case.

Article 185. The consequences of failure of persons involved in the case, their representatives and lawyers to attend the hearing.

185.1 Persons participating in case shall be obliged to either appear before the court or to notify the court on reasons for failure to appear before the court or the impossibility of the appearance and shall submit evidence as for validity of such reasons.

185.2 Consideration of the case shall be adjourned where any of the persons participating in the case fails to appear at the court hearing and no information exists on failure to issue court notice to them.

185.3 Court shall have the right to consider case in absence of any of persons participating in case, where such a person was duly notified of place and time of court session and where reasons for failure to appear before court are deemed invalid.

185.4 In the event of repeated failure of parties or of a plaintiff to appear before court, court shall have the right to consider case in absentia of said persons where either has been duly notified of place and time of the court session. Articles 259.0.6 and 259.0.7 of this Code shall apply under the aforementioned circumstances.

185.5 Court shall have the right to proceed with hearing of case where there is no information on reasons for failure of respondent who has been duly notified of place and time of court session to appear before court or where court deems reasons for failure to be invalid or where court establishes deliberate delay of proceeding by respondent.

185.6 Failure of representative or lawyer of a person participating in case to appear before court shall not prevent the case from being heard. Court shall have the right to adjourn hearing of case upon petition of a person participating in case referring to valid reasons of representative’s or lawyer’s failure to ­appear before the court.

185.7 Whereas parties are entitled to request the court to hear case in their absence, the court shall have the right to deem participation of the parties compulsory.

Article 186. Consequences for failure of the witnesses, expert and specialist to appear before the court

186.1 Where witnesses, experts or specialists fail to appear before the court, court shall hear opinions of persons participating in case on possibility of hearing of case in the absence of the aforementioned persons and shall render writ on proceeding with hearing or adjournment of the case.

186.2 Where a witness, expert or specialist has failed to appear before court due to reasons deemed by court invalid, such a person shall be fined in the amount of up to one hundred and ten Manats. Witness who fails to appear before court without any valid reason thereto for the second time, shall be forced to appear before court.

Article 187. Explanation of their rights and obligations to expert and specialist

Chairman shall explain and clarify to expert and specialist their rights and obligations and shall further warn expert on criminal liability for refusal to issue an opinion or for issuing a deliberately false opinion. Expert shall submit confirmation, certifying explanation of his rights and obligations. Such confirmation shall be attached to protocol of court session.

Article 188. Adjournment of hearing

188.1 Adjournment of case hearing shall be permitted in cases stipulated by this Code, as well as in cases of judge opinion on impossibility of hearing of case in said court session, failure of any of persons participating in case to appear before court, filing counter claim, necessity to submit and to request supplementary evidence, calling other persons to participate in proceeding, performing any other procedural actions.

188.2 Further to adjournment of case hearing date for a new court session shall be set with consideration of time required for call of participants of proceeding or requesting evidence and persons appearing before the court shall sign a written notification to that effect. Persons failing to appear before the court and newly invited parties shall be duly notified of time and place of new hearing.

188.3. The judge may postpone the consideration of the case in cases which are exceptional or cannot be foreseen on the grounds stipulated by this code. Consideration of the case can be postponed no more than 3 times. After that, when the next hearing is postponed, the judge must adopt a substantiated writ on this matter.

Article 189. Interrogation of witnesses and execution of procedural actions in the case of adjournment of hearing

In case of adjournment of case hearing with the parties present in court session, court shall have the right to interrogate witnesses who have appeared before court and to perform other procedural actions. Second call of said witnesses to a new court session or repeated performance of procedural actions shall be permitted only in the event of necessity.

Article 190. Commencement of hearing of case on its merits

Hearing of a case on its merits shall commence with report of the chairman. Thereafter, chairman shall clarify explanations of parties and third parties with respect to claims.

Article 191. Refusal of plaintiff from claim, acknowledgement of claim by respondent and amicable agreement

191.1 Refusal of plaintiff from claim, change of claim, acknowledgement of claim by respondent or conditions of an amicable agreement of parties shall be entered into protocol of court session, which protocol shall be signed, respectively, by plaintiff, respondent or both. Refusal from claim, change of claim, acknowledgement of claim or amicable agreement of parties may also be expressed in written petitions addressed to court that clearly indicates the consequences of such actions.

191.2 Court shall, prior to approval of refusal from the claim, acknowledgement of claim or approval of an amicable agreement of the parties, explain the latter consequences of such procedural actions. In the event of plaintiff’s refusal from claim and acceptance of such refusal by court or in case of approval of an amicable agreement between parties, court shall render a writ, which shall also cancel proceeding on the case. Conditions of an amicable agreement of parties as approved by the court shall be expressed in writ.

191.3 In case of acknowledgement of claim by respondent and acceptance of such acknowledgement by court, court shall pass a resolution on satisfaction of claims of plaintiff.

191.4 In case of court’s rejection of plaintiff’s refusal from claim, acknowledgement of claim by respondent or non-approval of an amicable agreement, court shall render a substantiated writ and shall continue hearing of case on its merits.

Article 192. Explanations of persons participating in case

192.1 Upon presentation of case report, judge shall hear plaintiff and third party, acting on side of plaintiff, respondent and third party, acting on side of respondent, and other persons participating in the case. Persons participating in case shall have the right to ask questions of each other.

192.2 Written explanations of persons participating in case and evidence collected by court in accordance with Articles 83 and 85 of this Code, shall be announced by the chairman.

Article 193. Establishment of order of examination of evidence

Following hearing of persons participating in the case and with consideration of their opinions, judge shall establish the order of examination of evidence.

Article 194. Warning the witness on responsibility for refusal to testify and submission of deliberately false testimonies

194.1 Prior to carrying out interrogation of a witness, chairman shall establish his personality, explain his rights and duties, warn on criminal liability for unlawful refusal to testify or submission of deliberately false testimonies. Witness shall sign a note confirming explanation of his rights and duties. Such confirmation shall be attached to protocol of court session.

194.2 Chairman shall explain a witness below the age of criminal liability the duty to truthfully describe facts of case known to him, however such a witness shall not be warned on liability for unlawful refusal to testify or submission of deliberately false testimonies.

Article 195. Procedure for interrogation of witness

195.1 Each witness shall be interrogated individually.

195.2 Chairman shall verify relation of witness to persons participating in case and shall propose witness to inform court on all case related information in his possession.

195.3 Thereafter, witness shall be asked questions. A person upon whose petition witness is called and representatives of this person shall be the first to ask questions of a witness, followed by other persons participating in case and representatives thereof.

195.4 Judge shall have the right to ask questions of witness at any moment of his interrogation.

195.5 Where necessary, court shall have the right to repeatedly interrogate witness in that same or another court session, as well as to perform confrontation of witnesses for the purpose of clarification of contradictions in their testimonies.

195.6 Except for cases of court refusal to issue a permission, interrogated witness shall remain in court room until the end of the examination.

Article 196. Use of written materials by witness

Witness shall have the right to make use of written notes where his testimonies are associated with any calculations or other data being difficult to remember. Such materials shall be presented to court and persons participating in case and it shall be permitted to issue a writ on attachment of such materials to the case file.

Article 197. Interrogation of witnesses who are minors

197.1 Interrogation of a witness below the age of fourteen and at the discretion of court of a witness at the age between fourteen and sixteen shall be carried out with participation of a representative of an educational establishment being attended by such witness. Where necessary, parents, adopters, guardians and custodians of a minor shall also be called to the court. Said persons shall have the right, upon permission of chairman, ask witness questions, as well as express their personal opinions with respect to personality of witness and his testimonies.

197.2 In exceptional cases, where it is necessary to establish circumstances of case and while interrogating a witness below the age of majority, it shall be permitted to remove any persons participating in the case or any person attending court session form court room upon writ of the court. Persons participating in case shall, upon their return to courtroom, be informed on testimony of a minor and be given an opportunity to ask witness questions.

Article 198. Disclosure of witness testimonies

Witness testimonies received in accordance with Articles 83, 85, 105.2 and 189 of this Code shall be disclosed at the court session. Thereafter, persons participating in case shall have the right to give explanations with respect to such testimonies.

Article 199. Examination of written evidence

Written evidence or protocols of their examination, prepared in accordance with the procedure stipulated by Articles 83, 85, 167.1.11 of this Code, shall be disclosed at court session and be presented to persons participating in case, representatives, and where necessary to experts, specialists and witnesses. Thereafter, persons participating in case shall have the right to give explanations.

Article 200. Disclosure and examination of personal correspondence and telegraph messages

For the purpose of maintaining secrecy of personal correspondence and telegraph messages, such correspondence and telegraph messages shall be disclosed and examined by court in an open session only upon consent of the recipients of these correspondence and messages.

Article 201. Examination of material evidence

201.1 Material evidence shall be examined by court and presented to persons participating in case, representatives thereof and where necessary, to the experts, specialists and witnesses.

201.2 Persons, who have been presented with material evidence, shall have the right to draw attention of court to certain circumstances related to examination. Such proposals shall be entered into protocol of court session.

201.3 Protocols for examination of material evidence shall be disclosed in course of court session and thereafter persons participating in case shall have the right to submit their explanations.

Article 202. On-site inspection

202.1 Written and material evidence, which cannot be issued to court or which issue is made difficult, shall be reviewed and examined at place of their location or storage. Court shall render writ with respect to on-site inspection. 202.2 Persons participating in case and representatives thereof shall be notified of place and time of inspection, however their failure to appear shall not prevent inspection form being carried out. Where necessary, court shall also call experts, specialists and witnesses.

202.3 Results of inspection shall be entered into protocol of court session. Plans, schedules, designs, calculations, copies of documents, video-recordings made during inspection, photos of written and material evidence, as well as written expert opinion and specialist explanations shall be attached to protocol.

Article 203. Playing and examination of audio- and video-recordings

203.1 Rules stipulated by Article 200 of this Code shall apply to playing, as well as examination of audio and video recordings of personal nature.

203.2 Playing of audio and video recordings shall be conducted in courtroom or in a room equipped with special equipment with reference to specific features of such recordings and time of playing in protocol of court session. Thereafter, court shall hear explanations of persons participating in case.

203.3 Where it is necessary, playing of audio and video recordings shall be repeated in full or in part.

203.4 It shall be permitted to invite specialists for the purpose of clarification of data contained in audio- and video-recordings. Where necessary court shall appoint expert examination.

Article 204. Petition on forgery of evidence

204.1 Where there is a petition as to forgery of evidence of case, person presenting such evidence shall have the right to request withdrawal of such evidence from the scope of evidence and to carry settlement of case upon remaining evidence.

204.2 Court shall have the right to appoint examination for verification of authenticity of evidence and to propose parties to present other evidence.

Article 205. Investigation of expert opinion

205.1 Expert opinion shall be disclosed in court session. It shall be permitted to ask expert questions for the purpose of clarification and finalization of the opinion. Person requesting expert examination and representative thereof shall be first to ask such questions, followed by other persons participating in case and representatives thereof. Plaintiff and representatives thereof shall be the first to ask questions of expert appointed by court.

205.2 Judge shall have the right to ask questions of expert at any time of interrogation.

Article 206. Appointment of supplementary and repeated expert examination

206.1 Expert opinion shall be examined in court session and evaluated by court along with other evidence and shall not have any preliminarily established force for court. Disagreement of court with expert opinion shall be substantiated in text of court resolution or writ on appointment of supplementary or repeated expert examination. 206.2 Supplementary or repeated expert examination shall be appointed under circumstances stipulated by Article 102 of this Code.

Article 207. Specialist consultations

207.1 Where it is necessary, in course of review of written and material evidence, playing audio-recordings, reviewing video-recordings, appointment of expert examination, interrogation of witnesses, undertaking measures for securing evidence, court shall have the right to invite a specialist for submission of consultations, explanations and providing direct technical assistance (drawing pictures, drafting plans and charts, selecting samples for expert examination, evaluating property, etc.)

207.2 Specialist consultation shall be reduced to writing and shall further be disclosed in court session and attached to case file. Oral consultation and explanations of a specialist shall be entered into protocol of court session.

207.3 It is permitted to ask a specialist questions for the purpose of clarification and completion of consultation. Person applying for call of a specialist and representative thereof shall be the first to ask questions of a specialist, followed by other persons participating in case and representatives thereof. Plaintiff and representative thereof shall be the first to ask questions of a specialist invited upon court initiative.

207.4 Judge shall have the right to ask questions of a specialist at any moment of his interrogation.

Article 208. Opinions of state authorities and local self-governing bodies

Opinions of state authorities and local self-governing bodies admitted by court for participation in case shall be disclosed in course of court session in accordance with rules of Article 60 of this Code. Court and persons participating in case shall be permitted to ask questions of representatives of said authorities and bodies for the purposes of clarification and completion of opinions.

Article 209. Completion of examination of case on its merits

209.1 Following investigation of all evidence, chairman shall ask persons participating in case and representatives thereof whether they wish to supplement materials of case hearing. Where no such petitions are raised, chairman shall declare completion of circumstances of the case and shall proceed with judicial pleadings.

209.2 Persons participating in case shall have the right to request adjournment of hearing of case to next court session for the purpose of submission of explanations and additional evidence with respect to facts which have come to their attention in course of courts session. Rules of Article 188 of this Code shall apply under the aforementioned circumstances.

209.3 Where prior to declaration of completion of review of the case on its merits persons participating in case have not presented their facts and evidence, further to declaration of completion of review no person shall have the right to refer to circumstances and evidence which have not been heard in court session.

Article 210. Court pleadings

210.1 Court pleadings shall consist of speeches of persons participating in case, as well as of representatives and lawyers thereof.

210.2 Plaintiff and representative thereof shall start pleadings, followed by respondent and representative thereof. Third party, making independent claims in respect of disputed subject matter following commencement of the case, and representative thereof shall plead following parties and representatives thereof. Third party not making independent claims in respect of disputed subject matter and representative thereof shall plead following plaintiff or respondent, which such third-party acts for.

210.3 Representatives of state authorities and local self-governing bodies appealing to court for protection of rights and legally protected interests of other persons shall be the first to plead.

Article 211. Retorts

Following court pleadings of all parties, parties shall have the right to plead with respect to contents of initial speeches. Right of last retort shall belong to respondent and his representative.

Article 212. Reopening of examination of case on its merits

Where in course of or following court pleadings court recognizes the necessity to clarify new circumstances pertinent to case or to investigate new evidence, court shall render a writ on reopening of review of case on its merits, with registration of such writ in protocol of court session. Following completion of hearing of the case on its merits, court pleadings shall be proceeding under general procedures.

Article 213. Withdrawal of judge for issue of resolution

Following court pleadings and upon announcement to persons present in courtroom judge shall withdraw to consultation room for issue of resolution.

Article 214. Announcement of resolution

214.1. After the adoption of the resolution, the judge returns to the courtroom (except cases when the parties do not attend the hearing), announces the introduction and conclusion parts of the resolution, explains the procedure and period for filing a complaint against the resolution, as well as the conclusion part of the resolution in the case of an appeal by the parties.

214.2 Where resolution is prepared in a language not known to persons participating in case, such resolution shall be read out by interpreter participating in case in translation to native language of this persons participating in case or in any other language known to these persons.

214.3 Judge shall announce only resolutive section of a resolution issued with respect to complicated cases.

214.4 Announced resolutive section of resolution shall be reduced to writing, be signed by a judge or judges and attached to case file. Following announcement of a resolutive section of resolution, chairman should notify persons participating in case and representatives thereof of time for review of full text of resolution. An extract reflecting the introduction and conclusion parts of the resolution must be officially issued to the parties on the day of approval and announcement.

Article 215. Adjournment of announced resolution

Under exceptional circumstances, in the event of issue of a resolution with respect to highly complicated cases, judge shall have the right to make announcement of resolution or resolutive section thereof within 3 days from the date of completion of court hearing.

CHAPTER 16.

Court resolution

Article 216. Issuing and announcing a resolution

216.1 Act of court of first instance resolving case on its merits shall be made in form of resolution.

216.2 Court shall issue a resolution on behalf of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

216.3 Resolution shall be issued in a separate consultation room of judges following hearing of case in court session. Where a case has been considered in a collegiate order, resolution shall be approved by majority of votes. Only judge or court hearing the case shall be present in consultation room in course of issue of resolution. Presence of any other persons in consultation room shall be prohibited.

216.4. After the consultation, the judges declare the adopted resolution.

216.5. In the courts where the Electronic Court Information System is applied, information on the conclusion part of the resolution that has been declared is placed in the Electronic Court Information System and confirmed by the electronic signature of the judge on the same day.

Article 217. Lawfulness and substantiality of a resolution

217.1 Court resolution should be lawful and substantiated.

217.2 The resolution shall be adopted in accordance with the material law norms in force at the time of the establishment of the disputed legal relationship and the procedural law norms in force at the time of consideration of the case.

217.3 Resolution shall be based upon actual circumstances established with respect to case and relationships between the parties.

217.4 Court (judge) shall base decision only upon evidence examined in court session.

Article 218. Matters resolved in course of issuing of resolution

218.1 While issuing a resolution judge shall evaluate evidence, establish which evidence significant for case have been established or otherwise, what are legal relationships between parties, which law shall apply to case and whether claim should be satisfied or otherwise.

218.2 Where judge recognizes necessity to examine new evidence significant for case or to research supplementary evidence, judge shall render writ on reopening of court hearing. Following completion of hearing of case on its merits, judge shall re-hear court pleadings.

218.3 Judge shall issue a resolution in accordance with claims made by persons participating in case. However, in exceptional cases stipulated by the law, judge shall have the right to exceed claims.

Article 219. Drafting of resolution

219.1 Resolution shall be reduced to writing by chairman or one of judges considering case in a collegiate order.

219.2 Court resolution shall be signed by a judge hearing case in sole capacity, or by all judges considering case in a collegiate order.

219.3 Any amendments to resolution shall be confirmed by signature(s) of a judge or judges.

Article 220. Contents of resolution

220.1 Resolution shall be prepared in clear language.

220.2 Resolution shall consist of introductory, descriptive, motivating and resolutive sections.

220.3 Introductory section shall refer to place and time of issue of resolution, name of court issuing resolution, judge, secretary to court session, parties, other persons participating in the case, representatives and lawyers thereof, subject matter of dispute or claims. Descriptive section shall refer to claims of plaintiff, objections or reasoning of respondent and explanations of other persons participating in case.

220.4 Motivating section shall refer to circumstances of case established by court, evidence serving grounds for court conclusions and reasons for refusal to accept any of the evidence and laws or other legal normative acts referred to by persons participating in case, as well as to laws and other legal normative acts applied by court in course of issue of the resolution. In case of acknowledgement of claim by respondent, motivating section may contain only such acknowledgement and acceptance of said acknowledgement by the court.

220.5 Resolutive section shall contain conclusions of court in respect of full or partial satisfaction or rejection of claims, reference to distribution of court expenses; term and procedure for filing a complaint from resolution; in case of proceeding in absentia resolutive section shall contain reference to procedure for filing of a petition by respondent for cancellation of resolution.

220.6 Where court determines procedure for and term of execution of resolution and transfers resolution for immediate execution or takes measures for securing execution of resolution, such actions shall be referred to in the resolutive section of resolution.

Article 221. The court resolution on considering the decisions and actions (inaction) of local self-government bodies, other bodies and organizations, officials illegal.

221.1. The following shall be stated in the conclusion part of the resolution on considering the act of the state body, local self-government body, other body and organization or official invalid:

221.1.1 information on title, order number, date of issue, other data on act and authority issuing said act;

221.1.2. an instruction on considering the act invalid in whole or in part, as well as its invalidity from the moment of its adoption.

221.2 In course of satisfaction of claims on recognition of refusal from state registration or failure to register, court shall, through resolutive section of resolution, oblige the relevant state authority to affect such registration.

221.3. The court resolution that considers the normative act or the information provided about it illegal, shall be published in the mass medium in which the normative act is published or in the mass media in which the court considers it necessary to publish such resolution.

Article 222. Decision on recovery of property or withdrawal of monetary funds

222.1 In the event of issue of court resolution on recovery of property in-kind, resolutive section of resolution shall refer to title of property, value of property, which shall be recovered from plaintiff in the event of absence of the property at the time of execution of resolution, as well as place of location of property or a bank account of respondent to be debited in favor of plaintiff in the amount of award.

222.2 Further to satisfaction of claims on recovery of monetary funds, judge shall separately set principal, losses and penalty (fine, financial penalty) and shall further refer to the total amount to be recovered under the resolution.

Article 223. Resolution obliging respondent to perform certain actions

223.1 In the event of issue of a resolution obliging respondent to perform certain actions not related to transfer of property or monetary funds, court shall in the resolutive section of said resolution refer to person being obliged to perform certain actions, as well as to place, time or period during which such actions should be performed.

223.2 Where respondent fails to execute resolution within a stipulated period of time, and if deemed necessary by court, court shall have the right to refer in the resolution to the right of plaintiff to perform such actions and to recover the associated expenses from the respondent.

223.3 Where actions can be performed by respondent only, court shall indicate period of execution in text of resolution.

Article 224. Decision on recognition of execution or other documents as non – executable

In course of settlement of disputes related to recognition of execution or any other documents providing for non-contested recovery as non - executable, including recovery further to notary execution notice, resolutive section of resolution shall refer to name, order number and date of the document, which is not subject to execution, as well as to the amount not being subject to recovery.

Article 225. Decision on entering into or modification of contract

Resolutive section of resolution on disputes arising in course of entering into or out of modification of contracts shall refer to a verdict with respect to each of the disputed items, whereas resolution issued with respect to compulsory entering into contract shall refer to terms to be agreed upon by the parties.

Article 226. Decision in favor of several plaintiffs or several respondents

226.1 In case of issue of resolution in favor of several plaintiffs, court shall refer to that part of the resolution which relates to a particular plaintiff or shall express that the right of recovery is joint.

226.2 In the event of issue of resolution in favor of several respondents, court shall refer to that part of the resolution which is due to be executed by a particular respondent or shall express that their responsibility is joint.

Article 227. Drafting of a resolution

227.1 A court resolution should be drafted prior to its announcement.

227.2 Under exceptional circumstances and with respect to highly complicated cases, drafting of a substantiated resolution should be completed within 10 days from the date of announcement of resolutive section of the resolution. In this case, the court should officially issue a certified copy of the resolutive section of the resolution to the persons involved in the case on the day that it is announced. Chairman shall also declare the time when persons participating in case may obtain substantiated resolution.

227.3 Court resolution should be officially issued to the persons participating in case within 3 days from the date of its drafting.

227.4. In the courts where the Electronic Court Information System is applied, the judge provides the placement of the resolution in the electronic cabinets of the persons involved in the case established in the "Electronic Court" information system by confirming it with an electronic signature after the resolution has been drawn up within a period of 3 (three) days.

Article 228. Correction of errors and obvious calculation mistakes in the text of the resolution

228.1 Judge announcing a resolution on case shall not have the right to cancel or to modify his decision, except for resolution issued in absentia cancelled in accordance with rules of Articles 249 and 250 of this Code.

228.2 Further to his personal initiative with notification of persons participating in case or upon petition of persons participating in case judge shall have the right to correct errors and obvious calculation mistakes in text of resolution. Matter of making any corrections shall be resolved in court session. Persons participating in case shall be notified of time and place of court session, however their failure to appear shall not prevent the matter of making corrections to decision from being considered.

228.3 It shall be permitted to file a complaint from court writ on making corrections.

Article 229. Supplementary resolution

229.1 Judge issuing a resolution on case shall, upon petition of persons participating in case or upon his personal initiative issue a supplementary resolution where:

229.1.1 no resolution is issued with respect to claims in respect of which persons participating in case have presented evidence and have submitted explanations;

229.1.2 a judge issuing a resolution with respect to a matter of law failed to show amount of funds to be recovered, value of property to be transferred or actions to be performed by respondent;

229.1.3 matter of distribution of court expenses has not been dealt with by judge.

229.2 Supplementary resolution shall be issued prior to the effective date of resolution. Supplementary resolution shall be issued by court upon examination of a matter in court session. Persons participating in case shall be notified of time and place of court session, however their failure to appear shall not prevent matter of issue of a supplementary resolution from being considered.

229.3. A complaint can be filed against the writ on refusal to issue an additional resolution or against an additional resolution.

Article 230. Explanation of resolution

230.1 Judge who has heard a case shall be obliged to explain resolution that has not been cancelled by the court of appellate instance without changing contents of such resolution.

230.2 Where the resolution of the court of first instance and of court of appellate instance has been changed and a new resolution has been issued, explanation of resolution shall be made by court passing the latest of resolutions.

230.3 It shall be permitted to explain a resolution where a resolution has not been executed and a term of compulsory execution established by court has not expired.

230.4 Matter of explanation of a resolution shall be decided in court session. Persons participating in case shall be notified of time and place of such court session, however their failure to appear shall not prevent matter of explanation of resolution from being considered.

230.5 It shall be permitted to file a complaint from explanation of resolution.

Article 231. Adjournment of execution of resolution, execution of resolution in instalments, modification of method and procedure of execution of resolution, suspension of the proceeding on the case and temporary restriction of the debtor's right to leave the country

231.1 Further to petition of persons participating in case and with consideration of property status of the parties, judge who has considered a case shall have the right to adjourn execution of resolution, decide on execution of resolution in instalments, modify method and procedure of execution of resolution.

231.2 Such petitions shall be considered in court session. Persons participating in case shall be notified of time and place of such court session, however their failure to appear shall not prevent matter from being considered by court.

231.3. In accordance with the grounds established by Article 21.2 of the law of the Republic of Azerbaijan On Execution, the issues of suspension of proceeding on execution document in the cases where it should be suspended by the court (hereinafter – suspension of the proceeding on execution), as well as the temporary restriction of the debtor's right to leave the country are resolved by the presentation of the executive officer. The proceeding commenced in accordance with the execution document issued by the courts is suspended by the court at the place of the executive officer and the proceedings commenced according to the executive document issued by the administrative-economic court are stopped by the relevant administrative-economic court located at the place of that administrative-economic court or executive officer. The issue of temporary restriction of the debtor's right to leave the country is considered by the court at the place of the executive officer. Presentations on suspension of proceeding on execution, as well as temporary restriction of the debtor's right to leave the country are considered in accordance with the procedure stipulated by Article 231.2 of this Code.

231. 4 A complaint may be filed against the court’s decision on adjournment of execution of resolution, execution of resolution in instalments, modification of method and procedure of execution of resolution, suspension of the proceeding on the case and temporary restriction of the debtor's right to leave the country.

231.5 With the exception of cases stipulated by law, delay in execution of the court decision on the direction of detention of the mortgage subject, partial execution of the court resolution, modification of the method and procedure of execution, as well as suspension of execution are allowed only with the consent of the mortgage keeper.

Article 232. Recalculation of award

232.1 Further to a petition of parties, court, which considered the case, shall have the right to perform the appropriate recalculations (indexation) of the award.

232.2 Such petition on indexation of award shall be considered in court session. Persons participating in case shall be notified of time and place of such court session, however their failure to appear shall not prevent matter from being considered by court.

232.3 It shall be permitted to file a complaint from court writ on indexation of award.

Article 233. Entering of decision into its legal force

233.1 Excluding the cases provided in Articles 355-7.4, 355-13.4, 355-17.3, 355-18.4, 355-19.3 and 355-22.4 of this Code, if a court resolution has not been appealed against, it shall become legally effective after 1 month from its issue.

233.2 Resolution which has not been cancelled further to an appellate complaint shall be effective from the date of issue of decision by authority of appellate instance.

233.3 Upon effective date of resolution parties and other persons participating in case as well as their successors shall not have the right to raise a court case with respect to the same claims, upon the same ground, as well as to dispute facts and legal relationships in a different proceeding.

233.4 Upon effective date of resolution referring to receipt of periodical payments from respondent, and in the event of change of circumstances determining the amount or periodicity of payments, any party shall, through filing a new claim petition, have the right to request to change the amount and term of payments.

Article 234. Execution of a resolution

234.1. Except for the cases stipulated by Article 234.2 of this Code, the resolution shall be executed after its entry into force.

234.2. The following resolutions shall be executed immediately:

234.2.1. on the acquisition of funds for the maintenance of a person, including alimony;

234.2.2. on the issuance of a long-term protection order for the victim of domestic violence.

Article 235. Resolutions subject to immediate execution

235.1 The following resolutions shall be executed immediately:

235.1.1 on award of funds for maintenance of a person, including alimonies;

235.1.2 on payment of a salary to employee;

235.1.3 on declaration of acts of state authorities invalid, as well as writs of the economic court on approval of amicable agreements;

235.1.4 in other cases stipulated in law.

235.2 Further to request of parties, in cases where delay with execution of resolution may lead to significant losses of beneficiary of the action or to impossibility of execution, judge shall have the right to subject resolution to immediate execution.

235.3 Where immediate execution of resolution is permitted, and in the event of cancellation of court resolution, judge shall have the right to request a party to provide for backing from execution of the resolution.

235.4 Matter of immediate execution of resolution shall be considered in court session. Persons participating in case shall be notified of time and place of such court session, however their failure to appear shall not prevent matter of immediate execution from being considered by court.

235.5 It shall be permitted to file a complaint from court writ on immediate execution of the resolution. Filing of complaint from writ on immediate execution of resolution shall not suspend execution of resolution.

Article 236. Securing execution of decision

Court shall have the right to secure execution of resolution not being subject to immediate execution in accordance with rules of Chapter 13 of this Code.

Article 237. Sending copies of resolutions to persons participating in case

Copies of court resolutions shall, further to issue of resolution in full, during the day following a day of issue of the resolution be sent, or in the event of appearance in court ­ submitted, to persons participating in case irrespective of appearance of this persons before the court or otherwise.

CHAPTER 17.

Proceeding and resolutions in absentia

Article 238. Grounds for proceeding in absentia

238.1 In case of failure of a respondent, who has been duly notified of place and time of the court session and who has further failed to give any information on valid reasons for such failure to appear, case shall be examined, provided that no objections are raised by plaintiff.

238.2 In case of participation of several respondents in case, examination of case in absentia shall be possible in case of failure of all respondents to appear before the court.

238.3 Case file shall contain evidence of due notification of respondent.

238.4 Plaintiff shall submit written consent for hearing of case in absentia.

238.5 Court shall render a writ on hearing of case in absentia.

Article 239. Rights of party appearing before the court

Where a plaintiff appearing before court is not expressing his consent for hearing of case without participation of a respondent in absentia, court shall adjourn hearing of case and shall send court notification of place and time of new hearing to the respondent.

Article 240. No proceeding in absentia

240.1 Proceeding in absentia shall not be permitted under the following circumstances:

240.1.1 where a party failing to appear before the court has not been duly notified in accordance with the provisions of this Code;

240.1.2 where it is established in court that a party fails to appear before the court due to valid reasons or such failure has been caused by a natural disaster or an event of force majeure.

240.2 In the aforementioned cases hearing of the case shall be adjourned.

Article 241. Procedure for proceeding in absentia

241.1 In course of proceeding in absentia judge shall limit himself to examination of evidence submitted by persons participating in case, shall take their reasons and petitions into consideration and issue a resolution to be called resolution in absentia.

241.2 In course of drafting resolution judge shall be guided by rules established by Chapter 16 of this Code.

241.3 It shall not be permitted to modify grounds for or subject matter of claim or to increase the value of claim in course of hearing of case in absentia.

241.4 Where claims raised by plaintiff are substantiated, court shall satisfy his claims through resolution in absentia.

241.5 Where evidence submitted by plaintiff fail to support his claims in full or in part, court shall issue a resolution on rejection of claims or a part of it and such resolution shall not be treated as resolution in absentia despite failure of respondent to appear before the court.

Article 242. Contents of resolution in absentia

Contents of resolution in absentia shall be established by rules of this Chapter, as well as of Chapter 16 of this Code. Resolutive section of resolution in absentia shall refer to term and procedure for filing a petition for review of resolution.

Article 243. Official issuance of a copy of resolution in absentia

243.1. The resolution in absentia is officially issued to the persons involved in the case no later than 10 days after its adoption.

243.2. In the courts where the Electronic Court Information System is applied, the judge provides the placement of the resolution in absentia in the electronic cabinets of the persons involved in the case established in the Electronic Court Information System by confirming it with an electronic signature after the adoption of the resolution in absentia no later than 10 (ten) days.

Article 244. Filing of complaint from resolution in absentia

Respondent shall have the right to apply to court that has issued resolution in absentia on the repeal of the resolution within 10 days from the date it has been officially issued.

Article 245. Contents of petition on quashing of resolution in absentia

245.1 The following information shall be contained in petition for quashing of resolution in absentia:

245.1.1 name of court which issues resolution in absentia;

245.1.2 name of person filing petition;

245.1.3 circumstances evidencing validity of reasons for failure of respondent to appear before the and evidence proving such circumstances;

245.1.4 request of person filing petition;

245.1.5 list of documents attached to petition.

245.2 Petition for quashing of resolution in absentia shall be prepared by a respondent or representative thereof and submitted to the court hearing the case in number of copies corresponding to number of persons participating in the case.

245.3 No state duty shall be payable for such petition. Article 246. Refusal from petition for quashing of resolution in absentia Rules of refusal from appellate complaint shall apply to cases of refusal from petition for quashing of resolution in absentia.

Article 247. Actions of judge upon receipt of petition

Court shall inform persons participating in case of time and place of review of petition for quashing of resolution in absentia and shall send copy of petition and of attachments thereto to these persons.

Article 248. Hearing of petition

Petition on quashing of resolution in absentia shall be heard by judge in court session within 10 from the date of receipt of petition by court. Failure of persons duly notified of time and place of the court session to appear before court shall not prevent petition from being considered.

Article 249. Competence of court

Upon consideration of petition for quashing of resolution in absentia, judge shall pass a writ on refusal to satisfy petition or on quashing of resolution in absentia and reopening of the case with further hearing on its merits.

Article 250. Grounds for quashing resolution in absentia

Resolution in absentia shall be quashed where court determines that failure of a respondent to appear before court was due to valid reasons or that respondent was not in possession of an opportunity for due notification of court on his non-appearance in court.

Article 251. Renewal of consideration of the case. Second resolution in absentia

Further to quashing of resolution in absentia, judge shall reopen hearing of case on its merits. In case of failure of respondent, who has been duly notified of place and time of court session, to appear before court, resolution to be passed at such court session shall not be treated as resolution in absentia. Respondent shall not have the right to file another petition on review of such resolution in accordance with rules applicable to proceeding in absentia.

Article 252. Effective date of resolution in absentia

Resolution in absentia shall come into force in accordance with provisions of Article 233 of this Code.

Article 253. Complaints from acts of courts passed under proceeding in absentia

253.1 Persons whose interests have been violated through quashing of resolution in absentia shall have the right to file an appellate complaint from writ on quashing of resolution in absentia.

253.2 It shall be permitted to file appellate complaints from the following actions:

253.2.1 in case of issue of resolution under the rules of Article 241.5 and 251 of this Code;

253.2.2 in case of refusal from quashing resolution in absentia under petition of respondent;

253.2.3 from second resolution in absentia.

253.3 Parties may file a complaint against the resolution in absentia after expiration of the period for filing an application for the repeal of this resolution and its consideration. 

CHAPTER 18.

Suspension of proceeding

Article 254. Duty of court to suspend proceeding

254.1 Under the following circumstances judge shall be obliged to suspend proceeding:

254.1.1 upon death of a person, or reorganization of a legal entity, one of the parties to case, where disputed legal relationship permits legal succession or termination of a legal entity participating in case;

254.1.2 upon loss of action capacity by party;

254.1.3 where plaintiff or respondent is participating in military operations carried out by the Military Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan or other military divisions;

254.1.4 impossibility of hearing of case prior to completion of another case heard under proceeding of the Constitutional Court, civil, criminal, administrative violation or dispute court procedure.

254.1.5. If in the Proceedings of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan there is an application for recognition and enforcement of the decision of the court of a foreign state on the dispute between the same parties, on the same subject and on the same grounds.

254.1.6. when the court appeals to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan on interpretation of the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Azerbaijan in accordance with Article 13.6 of this Code.

254.2 Court shall also suspend proceeding in other cases stipulated by law.

Article 255. Right of court to suspend proceeding

255.0 Under the following circumstances judge shall have the right to suspend proceeding upon petition of persons participating in case or with his personal initiative:

255.0.1 where a party is following a conscription or further to performance of any other state duty is in Military Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan or any other military division;

255.0.2 where a party is on a long-term business trip;

255.0.3 where a party is placed to a medical treatment establishment;

255.0.4 where a respondent is in search in cases stipulated by this Code;

255.0.5 where an expert examination is appointed by court;

255.0.6. where a court order is sent to the courts of foreign states;

255.0.7. when the body of a guardianship and adoption is required to give an opinion on the case.

Article 256. Terms of suspension of proceeding

256.0 Proceeding on case shall be suspended as follows:

256.0.1 in cases stipulated by Articles 254.1.1 and 254.1.2 of this Code - up to moment of establishment of personality of a legal successor of withdrawn person or appointment of representative to a person lacking action capacity;

256.0.2 in cases stipulated by Articles 254.1.3 and 255 of this Code - up to completion of military service and performance of state duties in Military Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan, other military forces and military divisions, date of return from a business trip, date of leaving medical treatment establishment, results of the search for respondent are known, submission of expert or opinion of body on guardianship and custodianship to the court, response to the court task is received;

256.0.3 in cases stipulated by Articles 254.1.4 of this Code- up to the date of a decision, resolution, verdict, writ coming into legal force, or to the date of issue of decision with respect to case considered under administrative procedure;

256.0.4 in cases stipulated by Article 254.1.5 of this Code up to ­ the date of review of petition by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan;

256.0.5. where its stipulated by Article 254.1.6 of this Code, until the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the appeal is published.

Article 257. Reopening of proceeding

Proceeding on case shall reopen upon elimination of circumstances serving grounds for suspension of proceeding further to request of persons participating in case or upon initiative of court.

Article 258. Procedure for suspension and reopening of case proceeding

258.1 Court shall render a writ on suspension or reopening of case proceeding.

258.2 It shall be permitted to file a complaint from court writ on suspension of case proceeding.

Chapter 19

Keeping the application pending

Article 259. Foundations of keeping the application pending

259.0. Court shall not consider the application in the following cases:

259.0.1. if the claimant who applied to the court does not comply with the rule established by law or stipulated by the contract between the parties for the cases of a certain category for the resolution of the dispute outside the court (in the manner of a pretension) in advance and if the opportunity to apply this rule is not lost;

259.0.2. if an application was submitted by a physical person lacking action capacity;

259.0.3. if an application was not signed, or was signed by the person that does not have authority for doing the signing process or if the contract was signed by the person whose duty has not been stated;

259.0.4. if there is a case related to the dispute between the same parties, in respect of the same subject and on the same grounds in the proceeding of that or another law court;

259.0.5. if a contract was concluded between the parties for the consideration of the dispute at the jury's court in accordance with the law and there is an objection raised by the defendant related to the settlement of the dispute prior to the consideration of the case in terms of its nature; 

259.0.6. in case of failure to attend court by the parties that did not ask to consider the case without their participation; 

259.0.7. if a claimant who did not ask for the consideration of the case without his participation, fail to attend to the preliminary summoning of the court, and the defendant did not require the consideration of the case in terms of its nature;

259.0.8. if the claimant has not applied to the bank or other credit institution on the receipt of the debt from the respondent, even if he/she had to receive it through the bank and credit institution in accordance with the law, other normative legal act and contract;

259.0.9. in case of finding a dispute related to the law when considering applications on refusal of state registration or evasion; 

259.0.10. in case of finding a dispute related to the law when considering applications on identification of legally significant facts;

259.0.11. in case if an application is submitted on the return of claim application and if the defendant does not require the consideration of the case in terms of its nature;

259.0.12. in case of submission of application without specifying the requirements stipulated by Article 149 of this Code, as well as without attaching the documents specified in articles 150.0.1-150.0.3 of this Code, failure to eliminate the shortcomings that prevent the consideration and resolution of the case in terms of its nature within the period determined by the judge.

Article 260. The procedure and consequence of keeping an application pending

260.1. The court releases a writ on keeping the claim pending.  

260.2. The writ shall indicate the ways of eliminating cases that prevent the case specified in article 47.2 of this Code being considered.

260.3.  The writ may resolve the distribution of court costs between the persons involved in the case, the return of state duty from the budget.

260.4. The interested person has the right to re-apply to the court in general order after the elimination of the cases that caused the case to be kept pending.

260.5. The court annuls its writ on keeping the application pending in accordance with the grounds specified in articles 259.0.6 and 259.0.7 of this Code upon the petition of the claimant or defendant, when they provide evidence that they failed to participate in the court hearing and did not inform the court about it for a good reason.

260.6. A complaint can be filed against the court writ on keeping the claim pending. 

Chapter 20

Termination of the case proceedings

Article 261. Grounds for termination of proceedings

261.0. The judge shall terminate the case proceeding in the following cases:

261.0.1. if the case should not be considered in court;

261.0.2. if there is a court resolution which has become effective by the court judgement or a court writ on withdrawal of the claim by the claimant or the termination of the case proceedings related to the approval of reconciliation agreement between the same parties, on the same subject and based on the same grounds; 

261.0.3. if there is a legally valid resolution of the court of a foreign state on the disputes between the same parties, on the same subject and on the same grounds and that resolution is recognized and accepted for execution by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan;

261.0.4. if the claimant has refused the lawsuit and this refusal was accepted by the court;

261.0.5. if the parties have concluded a reconciliation agreement and this agreement is approved by the court;

261.0.6. if there is a resolution by jury’s court which has become effective by the court judgement on dispute between the same parties, on the same subject and based on the same grounds, except the cases when the court refuses to issue an executive sheet for the mandatory execution of the resolution of the jury’s court or return the case to the jury’s court which has adopted the resolution for reconsideration and if it is impossible to consider the case in the same jury’s court.

261.0.7. if the disputed legal relations do not allow the legal succession after the death of a person who is one of the parties to the case

261.0.8. if the legal entity involved in the case is liquidated;

261.0.9. if the interested person who applied to the court did not follow the procedure for the cases of certain categories on the non-judicial settlement of the dispute in advance and the opportunity to apply this procedure is lost.

Article 262. The procedure and consequence of termination of proceedings

262.1. The court issues a writ on the termination the case proceedings.

262.2. The issues related to the distribution of court costs between the persons involved in the case, the return of the state duty from the budget can be resolved in a court writ.

262.3. If the proceedings are terminated as a result of the case not belonging to the judiciary or on the grounds stipulated by Article 261.0.8 of this Code, the court shall indicate which body the claimant should apply for.

262.4. If the case proceedings are terminated, it is not allowed to apply to the court for a dispute between the same parties, on the same subject and on the same grounds.

262.5. A complaint may be filed against the court writ on the termination of the case proceeding.

Chapter 21

Court writs

Article 263. Procedure for the issuance of a writ 

263.1. If the case is not resolved in terms of its nature, the judicial acts are issued in the form of a writ.

263.2. The court issues a writ in case if it imposes a stay on proceedings, terminates proceedings, keeps the case pending as well as in other cases specified in this Code.

263.3. The writ is accepted as an independent act in a deliberation room, signed by the judge or judges and announced at the same court session immediately after its adoption.

263.4. When the court resolve issues that are not so complicated at the court session, it may issue a writ without going to the consultation room, by making a consultation in its place and without drafting a separate act.  

263.5. The writ is announced orally and written in the court session protocol. The writ shows the factors for the issue, the reasons of the court results and the result on the issue under consideration. 

263.5-1. Information about the writ announced in the courts where the Electronic Court Information System applied is placed in the Electronic Court Information System at the same day through confirmation by the electronic signature of the judge.

263.6. The writ is adopted by the court under the conditions where the principle of dispute and equality of rights of the persons involved in the case are provided and the general provisions of the judicial review are followed in accordance with this Code.

Article 264. Content of the writ

264.0. The following issues shall be indicated in the writ that is adopted in the form of a separate act:

264.0.1. date and place of issue of a writ;

264.0.2. name of the court that issued the writ, the composition of the judge or the court and the secretary of a court session;

264.0.3. persons involved in the case, the subject of the dispute or the alleged request;

264.0.4. on what issue the writ is being issued;

264.0.5. reasons for the results of the court and reference to the laws guided by the court;

264.0.6. conclusion on the issue under consideration;

264.0.7. if a complaint can be filed against the writ, the procedure and duration of the complaint

Article 265. Special writs of the court

265.1. The court is entitled to issue a special writ when considering the dispute, in case if it finds out that laws and other normative legal acts are violated in the activities of a legal entity, state, local self-government body and other body, official or natural person.

265.2. Special writs are sent to relevant legal entities, officials, state and local self-government bodies and other bodies, physical persons. They must inform the court about the measures they have taken within a period of 1 month.

265.3. If there is no information on the measures taken, the accused officials may be fined up to one hundred and ten Manats.

Imposed fine does not relieve the relevant official from his duty to give information about the measures taken in accordance with the special writ of the court.

265.4. In case if the court reveals the signs of the crime in the actions of the parties or other persons when considering the case, it shall inform the prosecutor about this matter by issuing a special writ.

265.5. In case of failure to execute judicial resolution that has become effective through court judgment, the court informs the prosecutor by issuing a special writ on the commencement of a criminal case on this issue within one month.

265.6. If the prosecutor fails to identify the cases that exclude the commencement of the criminal case, he/she does not have a right to refuse to commence a criminal case on the special writ of the court. The prosecutor, who makes a substantiated decision on this matter, sends the decision to the court that issued a special writ. If the court does not agree with the decision of the prosecutor, it can turn the attention of the chief prosecutor into unlawfulness of the decision of lower prosecutor with the aim of taking the necessary measures of impact. 

Article 266. Official issuance of copies of the court writ to the persons participating in the case

266.1. After the writ of the court is issued in the form of a separate act, it is officially submitted to the persons involved in the case and other persons concerned within 5 days.

266.2. When officially submitting the writs that can be appealed in accordance with this Code to the persons involved in the case and other relevant persons, the court should be informed on this matter.

266.3. In the courts where the Electronic Court Information System is applied, the judge shall ensure that the writ is placed in the electronic cabinets established in the Electronic Court Information System of the persons involved in the case by confirming with electronic signature within 5 (five) days of its issuance.

Article 267. Filing an appeal against writs

267.1. A complaint may be filed against the writ adopted by the court in the form of a separate act in cases specified in this Code.

267.2. Persons participating in the case and other persons directly related to the writ have the right to appeal.

267.3. The complaint is submitted to the court that have adopted the writ in a written form.

Article 268. Time period for filing the complaint

268.1. The complaint is filed within 10 days after the official submission of the writ.

268.2. If the writ is announced in the presence of the persons who have the right to file an application against it, the period of appeal is calculated from the time that the decision is announced.

Article 269. Consideration of the complaint

269.1. The appeal is considered by the court of first instance that adopted the writ within 3 days.

269.2. If the complaint is substantiated, the judge changes or annuls the decision and performs subsequent procedural actions with the parties for consideration of the dispute.

269.3. Otherwise, this complaint is sent to the court of appeal of instance together with the case within 7 days after its consideration.

Chapter 22

Protocols

Article 270. Obligatory character of the drafting of protocols

Protocol should be drafted regarding every separate procedural action at the court session as well as non-judicial procedure.  

Article 271. Content of the protocol

271.1. Protocol of a court session or a separate non-judicial procedural action should reflect all essential moments of the consideration of a case or a separate procedural action.

271.2. The following should be stated in the protocol of a court session:

271.2.1. the year, month, day and place of a court session;

271.2.2. commencement and completion time of a court session;

271.2.3. name of the court considering the case, judge, composition of the court and secretary of the court session;

271.2.4. name of the case;

271.2.5. information about the attendance of the persons involved in the case, representatives, lawyers, witnesses, experts, specialists, translators;

271.2.6. inquiry information of persons participating in the case (date of birth, work and place of residence);

271.2.7. information about notifying or declaring the procedural rights and duties of the persons involved in the case, representatives, as well as translators, experts, specialists;

271.2.8. orders of the chairman and the writs issued by the court without leaving the session hall;

271.2.9. applications, petitions, and explanations of persons, representatives and lawyers involved in the case;

271.2.10. testimonies of witnesses, oral explanations of experts on their own opinions, explanations of specialists; 

271.2.11. information on the announcement of written evidence, examination of material evidence, listening to audio recordings, viewing video recordings;

271.2.12. opinions of the representatives of state bodies and local self-government bodies; 

271.2.13. content of the court statements;

271.2.14. information on the announcement of the resolution and writs and the explanation of the content, explanation of the procedure and period for filing a complaint;

271.2.15. information on explaining the rights of becoming familiar with the protocol and submitting notes on it to the persons involved in the case;

271.2.16. date of drafting of the protocol.

271.3. In cases stipulated by this code, the parties may sign the protocol according to the petition of the court.

Article 272. Drafting of the protocol

272.1. The secretary of the court is involved in the drafting of the protocol. The court may refuse to involve the secretary. The protocol can be drafted by the judge himself or the other judge of the composition of the court, who presides over or considers the case at the hearing. At that time, they can use the computer or other auxiliary tools.

272.2. Article 272.1 of this Code is also applied to the procedural actions taken by the court outside the session.

272.3. The protocol should be compiled in a written form that is easy-to-read.

272.4. The court may use voice recording tools in order to ensure the completeness of the drafting of the protocol. 

272.4-1. Continuous video-audio recording of the court sessions is carried out on economic disputes, as well as in courts where the Electronic Court Information System is applied. The person who is presiding over the hearing informs the parties and other persons involved in the case on this matter. Information on the video-audio recording of the court session is indicated in the court session protocol and this record is attached to the protocol in the material carrier. Persons involved in the case have the right to become familiar with the video-audio recording of the court session.

272.5. Persons and representatives involved in the case may file petitions for the announcement of any part of the protocol and noting the information on the cases which they consider important for the case in the protocol.

272.6. If the action or reasoning does not relate to the dispute, the court may refuse to mention them in the protocol. The decision of the court on this issue cannot be disputed, it should be noted in the protocol.

272.7. The protocol should be drafted and signed no later than 10 days after the end of the court session, and the protocol on separate procedural actions should be drafted and signed no later than the day after its implementation.

272.8. If the protocol is drafted by the judge, it shall be signed by him/her, but if it is drafted by the secretary, it shall be signed by the judge or presiding person and secretary if the case is considered by the board. 

Article 273. Notes on the protocol

The persons involved in the case and representatives have the right to become familiar with the protocol and they can submit written notes on the protocol by indicating the inaccuracies or incomplete information within 3 days from its signing time.

Article 274. Consideration of notes on the protocol

274.1. If the judge or the chairman of the case who signed the notes on the protocol agrees with the notes, he / she confirms its accuracy, but if he / she disagrees, they issue a reasonable writ on their complete or partial rejection. In any case, notes are added to the case. 

274.2. Notes on the protocol should be considered no later than 3 days of their submission.

274.3. If necessary, persons who have submitted notes on the protocol or persons involved in the case and other participants of the process are summoned to court session.

Chapter 23

Proceedings of an order

Article 275. Order of a court

275.1. The simplified procedure for consideration of the requirements for payment of a certain monetary amount or cases related to the requirement of real estate is allowed in accordance with this chapter.

275.2. The judge's act on these cases are issued in the form of a court order and this act is considered a document of execution.

Article 276. The basis of the requirements for which a court order can be issued

276.1. A court order can be issued in these cases if the creditor's request is revealed or if that request is based on the undisputed position of the debtor.

276.2. The court order can be issued in the following cases:

276.2.1. if the request is based on a notarized agreement;

276.2.2. if the request is based on a simple written agreement (with the exception of contracts related to the provision of licensed telecommunications services, credit agreements concluded with credit institutions and requirements for payment of natural gas, water, electricity or thermal energy consumed in the household);

276.2.3. if the request is based on the protest issued by the notary public on promissory notes which are unpaid, unaccepted or have an unspecified acceptance date; 

276.2.4. if the request is made on the receipt of alimony, including the acquisition of alimony for minors without regard to the identification of paternity or involvement of third parties;

276.2.5. if the request is made on the salary that is calculated, but was not paid to the employee;

276.2.6. if the request is made by the police authorities on the receipt of expenses for the search of the respondent or debtor;

276.2.7. if the request is made on the receipt of sums on taxes and state compulsory insurance from physical persons.

276.2.8. request is made on the payment of natural gas, water, electricity or thermal energy consumed in the household.

Article 277. Submission of the application 

277.1. The application on the court order is submitted in accordance with the general rules of assignation indicated in chapter 4 of this Code.

277.2. State duty of 10 Manats is paid for submitting an application on the court order.

Article 278. Form and content of the application

278.1. Application is submitted to the court in a written form.

278.2. The following issues shall be indicated in the application:

278.2.1. Name of the court that submitted the application;

278.2.2. information on a creditor: surname, name, patronymic, place of residence or location;

278.2.3. information about a debtor: surname, name, patronymic, place of work, place of residence or location;

278.2.4. the creditor's request and the circumstances on which it is based;

278.2.5. documents that confirm the substantiality of the request;

278.2.6. a list of added documents.

278.3. The application submitted by the representative must include documents confirming his powers and documents on which the creditor is based.

Article 279. Prohibition of simplified consideration procedure 

279.1. The court refuses to accept the application on the issuance of a court order if there are grounds established by Article 153 of this code.

279.2. In addition, the following cases are the grounds for refusal:

279.2.1. if the request is not provided for by Article 276 of this code;

279.2.2. if the documents confirming the request have not been submitted;

279.2.3. if there is a dispute about the right to demand that the application is based on.

279.3. The court issues a writ on the refusal to accept the application within 3 days from its date of entry to the court. This writ cannot be appealed.

279.4. Refusal to accept an application on the issuance of a court order does not prevent the creditor from filing a claim in the manner of claim proceedings on that request. In this case, the state duty paid by the creditor is calculated as the state duty payable.

Article 280. The procedure for the issuance of the court order

A court order is issued within 3 days from its date of entry to the court, without a judicial review and summoning the parties to hear their explanations.

Article 281. Content of the court order

281.1. The following shall be indicated in the court order:

281.1.1. execution number and date of issue of the order:

281.1.2. name of the court, surname, name, patronymic of the judge who gave the order;

281.1.3. surname, name, patronymic, place of residence or location, place of work of the creditor and debtor;

281.1.4. legal basis for payment of request;

281.1.5. monetary amount to be purchased or property that must be purchased with the indication of the value;

281.1.6. the amount of the forfeit, if its receipt is stipulated by law or by contract;

281.1.7. the amount of state duty that must be levied from the debtor in favor of the lender or the state budget.

281.2. In addition to the information stipulated by articles 281.1.1-281.1.5 of this Code in the court order on the acquisition of alimony for minors: the day and place of birth of the debtor, his place of work, name and date of birth of each child for whom the alimony is established for their upbringing, the amount of monthly payments withheld from the debtor and the period of withhold are indicated.

281.3. The court order is signed by the judge and a copy of the order is submitted or sent to the debtor through notification of submission within a period of 3 days.

281.4. In the courts where the Electronic Court Information System is applied, the judge ensures that the court order which is confirmed by electronic signature are placed in the electronic cabinets established in the Electronic Court Information System of the persons participating in the case within a period of 3 (three) days.

Article 282. Objection

The debtor may object against the request or his by informing the court that has issued an order with a written notice within a period of 10 days from the date of receiving the court order.

Article 283.Transition to claim proceedings 

The objection of the debtor is considered equal with the claim petition from a procedural point of view. If it is issued on time, the judge cancels the order and passes the materials to the claim proceedings in accordance with the general provisions established by this Code.  

Article 284. Execution of court order

284.1. The court order possesses the authority of resolution. No complaint can be filed against the court order.

284.2. If the debtor's objection is not submitted to the court within a specified period of time, the judge issues immediately a copy of the court order to the creditor that is approved by the seal of the court and which its execution is mandatory. 

Chapter 23-1

Simplified proceeding on the cases related to small claims

Article 284-1. Simplified proceeding on the cases related to small claims

It is allowed to consider cases on claims (small claims) whose price is less than AZN 2,000 on civil cases and cases on economic disputes whose price is less than AZN 10,000, in accordance with this chapter. 

Article 284-2. Submission of the application 

In cases of minor claims, the application is submitted in accordance with the general rules of assignation indicated in chapter 4 of this.

Article 284-3. Form and content of the application

284-3.1. The application is submitted to the court in a general manner. In the courts where the Electronic Court Information System is applied, the application is sent through the electronic cabinet established in the Electronic Court Information System by the persons involved in the case of civil cases, as well as persons involved in the case of economic disputes registered in that system. 

284-3.2. The following shall be indicated in application:

284-3.2.1. name of the law court that application is submitted;

284-3.2.2. names of plaintiff and defendant, their postal addresses;

284-3.2.3. claimant’s request and cases on which it is based;

284-3.2.4. documents that confirm substantiality of the request;

284-3.2.5. a list of attached documents.

284-3.3. In case of submission in a general manner, application is signed by the claimant or his representative and the documents on which the claimant is based are attached to it. Document that confirms his authorities shall be attached to the application that is submitted by the representative.

284-3.4. The application is approved by the electronic signature of the applicant or his representative when it is submitted through the electronic cabinet established in the Electronic Court Information System. Documents attached to the application are submitted in the form of electronic document in accordance with the law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on “Electronic signature and electronic document”. 

Article 284-4. Inadmissibility of simplified procedure for consideration of the case 

284-4.1. The court rejects to accept an application for simplified consideration of the cases related to minor claims in the following cases:

284-4.1.1. if the cases specified in article 153.2 of this Code are identified;

284-4.1.2. if the request is not in accordance with the article 284-1 of this Code;

284-4.1.3. if the documents confirming the request that have been made are not submitted;

284-4.1.4. if there is a dispute about the right to request on which the application is based.

284-4.2. In the cases stipulated by article 284-4.1 of this Code, the court shall issue a justified writ on the refusal its adoption within 5 (five) working days from the date of entry of the application. If the court does not refuse to accept the application during this period of time, it will be considered accepted. The writ on refusal to accept the application cannot be appealed. 

284-4.3. Refusal to accept the application does not prevent the claimant from filing a claim in the manner of claim proceedings on that claim. In this case, the state duty paid by the claimant shall be calculated as the state duty payable. 

Article 284-5. Procedure for consideration of the application

284-5.1. If the application has not been refused, the judge, who is in charge of the case shall send a formal notice to the defendant within 5 (five) working days from the time of its entry into the court. The statement notes that the defendant has to submit his evidence and documents confirming them if there is a justified objection of defendant related to the applicant's claim. 

284-5.2. The respondent may send to the court his substantiated objection against the claim and the attached documents, and if it is submitted in an electronic form, the objection approved by the electronic signature and the attached documents drafted in the form of electronic document in the manner stipulated by the law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Electronic Signature and Electronic Document” within a period of 10 (ten) working days from the date of the official receipt of the notification.

284-5.3. The case shall be considered on the basis of the documents submitted by the parties, without a judicial review and summoning of the parties for hearing their explanations and a resolution on the settlement of the case shall be issued, within a period of 30 (thirty) working days from the date of submission of the application to the court 

284-5.4. If the documents submitted by the parties are not sufficient to draw up a final decision on the case, as well as if there is a need for further investigation, including obtaining explanations by summoning the parties, or obtaining statements from witnesses or opinions from experts, the court shall issue a substantiated writ on the consideration of the case in the manner of claim proceeding. This writ cannot be appealed.

Article 284-6. Court resolution on application

284-6.1. The resolution on the provision or rejection of the case is adopted by the judge who considers the nature of the case.

284-6.2. A complaint can be filed against the court resolution in the manner stipulated by this Code.

284-6.3. If a complaint has not been filed against a court resolution issued on cases considered in the simplified procedure of proceedings on minor claims, it shall become effective 1 (one) month after the date of its adoption.

Second subheading.

Proceeding on cases arising from general legal relations (Special claim proceeding)

Cancelled

Chapter 24.

General provisions

Article 285. Cases arising from the general legal relations that are considered by the court 

285.0., The court shall consider the following issues as the special claim proceeding in the manner set out in this chapter:

285.0.1. on applications related to the protection of right to elections;

285.0.2. on applications related to the decisions on administrative law violations of relevant executive bodies and their officials;

285.0.3. on applications related to the decisions and activity (inactivity) of relevant executive bodies and local self-government bodies, other bodies and organizations, their officials;

285.0.4. on applications related to the decisions and activity (inactivity) of military officials and military administrative bodies;

285.0.5. on applications related to the discussion of the lawfulness of normative acts.

Article 286. Submission of the application 

286.1. The application is submitted in accordance with the general rules of assignation indicated in chapter 4 of this Code.

286.2. Initial appeal of interested persons to the higher authorities on submission of an application to the court, its adoption by the court and its resolution in terms of its nature is not a mandatory condition.

286.3. Missing the deadline for submission of the application, expiration of admonition term, as well as the duration of execution of the decision are not grounds for refusal to accept the application for the court review.

286.4. Durations are checked by the court for the proper resolution of the case, regardless of their importance and the content of the application.

286.5. The content of the claim application and the documents attached to it must meet the requirements indicated in articles 149 and 150 of this Code. The application can specify property requirements, the basis of the alleged act, activity (inactivity). 

Article 287. Duty of substantiation 

It is the duty of the body which adopted the act or decision to prove the main cases for the adoption of acts and decisions of the state power and local self-government bodies, as well as other bodies.