Innovations in enforcement proceedings legislation

From July 1, 2020, amendments and additions to two fundamental normative legal acts, which judicial officers are guided by in their work, came into force: the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Enforcement Proceedings" (hereinafter referred to as the Law) and the Instruction on Enforcement Proceedings, approved by the Resolution of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus dated April 7, 2017 No. 67 (hereinafter referred to as the Instruction).

Thus, Article 53 of the Law has been supplemented with a new ground for returning an enforcement document to the claimant: this concerns cases where, under enforcement documents on the procedure for communication with a child, on participation in the upbringing of a child, the judicial officer establishes that the debtor has not obstructed the claimant's communication with the child, or participation in the upbringing of the child, for at least 2 consecutive months.

Paragraph 21 of the Instruction specifies that complaints against the actions of a judicial officer, expressed in the issuance of orders, the drawing up of acts, are filed in the general manner established for appealing the resolutions, actions (inaction) of a judicial officer.

In addition, when considering complaints against resolutions, actions (inaction) of a judicial officer, their legality and validity are now subject to verification as a whole, and not only within the scope of the arguments stated in the complaint (Paragraph 26 of the Instruction).

Currently, Paragraph 59 of the Instruction stipulates that within 10 days from the date of initiation of enforcement proceedings, the judicial officer must obtain information about the debtor and their property through information resources and systems to which enforcement bodies have access. In addition, for the purpose of levying execution on the debtor's property, the judicial officer is obliged, within one month from the date of initiation of enforcement proceedings, to visit the place where the debtor or their property is located, or the place of their economic activity. However, such enforcement action is carried out only if such a visit has not been carried out previously within the framework of other enforcement proceedings pending against the same debtor. In this case, the specified time limits do not include the time granted

debtor for voluntary execution of the enforcement document.

Due to the introduction of an automated information system for the execution of monetary obligations, it is now sufficient for the bailiff to send a payment order to the system to debit funds from the debtor's account (previously, it was required to present it to the bank or NCFО along with the enforcement document) (para. 64 of the Instructions).

In case of debt indexation and presentation of the enforcement document at the debtor's place of work, where deductions were already made in execution of the same claim before indexation, the debtor's employer changes the amount to be recovered from him while maintaining the original order of satisfaction of claims (para. 84 of the Instructions).

The Instructions also expanded the list of cases in which the realization of property is economically inexpedient (para. 113 of the Instructions). This applies to situations where the amount of customs payments, penalties and (or) interest and other expenses related to the sale of goods under customs control exceeds the value of such property.

According to para. 166 of the Instructions, in cases where the auction (electronic auction) for the sale of the debtor's property was not held because no participants appeared, or only one participant appeared, or only one participant applied for participation, as well as when none of the participants who appeared made a bid above the starting price of the debtor's property to be sold, the bailiff has the right to include a proposal to the claimant to take over the unsold property in lieu of the debt in the resolution on declaring these auction unsuccessful.

From July 1, 2020, the procedure for calculating alimony arrears for the period when the debtor did not pay alimony and did not work (or did not provide documents confirming his earnings or other income) has also been changed. Now, according to para. 209 of the Instructions, the amount of arrears is determined as follows: for one child - 50%, for two children - 100%, for three or more children - 150% of the subsistence minimum budget per capita. Previously, arrears

was calculated based on the earnings at the last place of employment, and if there is no information about this or if more than 3 months have passed since dismissal – based on the average wages of workers in the republic.

Thus, interested parties should take these changes into account when interacting with bailiffs and participants in enforcement proceedings.

Prosecutor of the regional prosecutor's office department
for supervision of compliance
with legislation by bodies
of the penal system
and enforcement
Denis Ploskunov