Civil law contracts are not just «pieces of paper»

For example, a customer is interested in an executor whose expenses will be minimal, while each executor, on the contrary, is initially "set" to earn as much as possible for their services.

Partly due to such a diametrical opposition of interests between contractors and customers, in practice, there are cases when certain requirements of civil legislation are ignored by the latter, as a result of which individual contractors find themselves in the role of "victims" and are forced to seek payment due to them through court proceedings, and even to prove the fact of work performed (its volume) for a particular customer.

In this regard, in order to ensure timely payment to citizens for work performed, services rendered, and created intellectual property objects under civil law contracts, and to protect their individual social and labor rights, Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus of July 6, 2005 No. 314 "On Certain Measures to Protect the Rights of Citizens Performing Work under Civil Law and Labor Contracts" provides for a number of requirements that additionally regulate the relevant legal relations.

Thus, according to subparagraph 1.1 of the aforementioned normative legal act, legal entities and individual entrepreneurs who provide work to citizens under civil law contracts, the subject of which is the performance of work, the provision of services, and the creation of intellectual property objects, are obliged to conclude these contracts in writing with them and to determine in these contracts, in addition to the conditions established by legislation, the following essential conditions:

-        the settlement procedure between the parties, including the amounts to be paid;

-        the customer's obligation to pay mandatory insurance contributions for the executor to the state social security system of the Social Protection Fund of the Population in the established manner;

-        obligations of the parties to ensure safe working conditions and responsibility for their non-fulfillment;

-        grounds for early termination of a civil law contract;

-        liability for the customer's failure to fulfill obligations for payment of performed work, rendered service, or created intellectual property object in the form of a penalty of at least 0.15 percent of the unpaid amount for each day of delay;

-        the customer's obligation to pay insurance contributions for compulsory insurance against industrial accidents and occupational diseases, if the work is carried out in places provided by the customer.

A properly concluded civil law contract will not only regulate the relationship between the parties but also serve as a reliable basis for evidence in case of a court dispute.

However, it is not only the conditions listed that are designed to protect the rights of citizens performing work and rendering services under civil law contracts.

Subparagraph 1.3 of Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 314 of July 6, 2005, imposes imperative obligations on each customer, depending on the type of civil law contract, including:

-        to provide, if necessary, workplaces for performing work, rendering services, that comply with labor protection rules and safety requirements;

-        to carry out training (education), instruction, professional development, and knowledge testing of citizens performing work under civil law contracts on safe working conditions, rendering services, or to request documents confirming their training (education), instruction, and medical examination, if necessary for the performance of relevant types of work;

-        to not allow

(to dismiss) from performing work, providing services on the relevant day, citizens performing work under civil law contracts at locations provided by the customer, who appeared at work in a state of alcoholic, drug, or toxic intoxication, as well as in a state related to illness that prevents them from performing work.

At the same time, subparagraph 1.4 of this Decree grants all citizens performing work under civil law contracts the right to refuse to perform the civil law contract in whole or in part if the customer has not created or has improperly created the conditions stipulated by the civil law contract for the safe performance of work, provision of services, and creation of intellectual property objects.

Citizens who wish to enter into relevant civil law relations with customers should not rely entirely on their good faith, but should, "armed" with the norms of the Decree, carefully study the terms of the contracts being concluded before signing the latter, demanding that all the conditions listed be clearly reflected in them, so as not to waste their "nerves" and time in court later.

Prosecutor of the Department for Supervision of Legislation Enforcement and Legality of Legal Acts
of the Regional Prosecutor's Office
Tatyana Ivanova.