On innovations in the legislation on citizens' and legal entities' appeals

Amendments and additions to the Law of the Republic of Belarus of July 18, 2011 No. 300-Z "On Citizens' and Legal Entities' Appeals", introduced by the Law of the Republic of Belarus of July 15, 2015, entered into force on January 23, 2016.

According to the new provisions of the document, the approaches to calculating deadlines for considering citizens' appeals have been changed. In particular, the calculation of deadlines begins not from the date of registration of the appeal, but from the day following it. In addition, the five-day period within which an organization must make a decision on received appeals that are not within its competence is calculated in working days.

The scope of this Law has been specified; now its provisions do not apply to appeals arising from relations between an employee and an employer.

The list of grounds for refusing citizens personal reception has been expanded. These grounds include appeals submitted on non-established days and hours, as well as on issues not within the organization's competence. Refusal of reception may be made not only by the official conducting the personal reception but also by the employee who is making the preliminary appointment for such reception.

Regarding the procedure for considering electronic appeals, the new version enshrines the obligation for applicants' representatives to attach copies of documents confirming their authority. If this obligation is not fulfilled, the electronic appeal may be left without substantive consideration.

The possibility is provided to terminate correspondence with applicants who send repeated appeals to the same organization, the consideration of which is not within its competence.

Organizations also gained the right to apply to the court to recover from applicants the expenses incurred in connection with the consideration of unjustified appeals systematically sent to them (three or more times within a year) from the same applicant; appeals containing knowingly false information.

Such expenses include amounts payable to experts, postal expenses, and expenses related to travel to the place of consideration of the appeal.

The law is supplemented by a norm according to which entries made by a citizen in the book of remarks and suggestions, which are not related to the organization's activities, are left without substantive consideration without notifying the applicant.

All the specified innovations fully apply to the procedure for working with citizens' appeals in the prosecutor's offices of the Vitebsk region.

Senior Assistant Prosecutor of the Vitebsk Region
for supervision of the enforcement of legislation
on citizens' appeals I.A. Tavtyn