Russia | Proposed Amendments to the Arbitration Procedural Code of the Russian Federation: An Analysis of Key Changes

The bill, drafted by the Supreme Court and submitted to the State Duma on June 18, 2026, is aimed at improving procedural legislation. The changes will affect both civil procedure (the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation) and administrative procedure (the Administrative Procedure Code of the Russian Federation), but most of the changes pertain to arbitration proceedings.

As noted in the explanatory memorandum to the draft law, it aims to improve access to justice and the efficiency of judicial proceedings, expand the scope of procedural safeguards for parties to a case, optimize the court’s caseload, and expedite the provision of judicial protection to interested parties in disputes and other cases arising from civil and administrative legal relationships.

A detailed analysis of the proposed amendments is provided below.

1. Preliminary Hearing

• Current version: A preliminary hearing is a mandatory step in most categories of cases. Exceptions to this rule are strictly regulated by law.
• Proposed changes: The mandatory nature of this stage is abolished. According to paragraph 8 of Article 2 of the draft, a preliminary hearing will be held solely at the judge’s discretion. This will allow for the optimization of the court schedule and reduce the time spent by the parties in cases where such a hearing is unnecessary.

2. Simplified Proceedings

The bill provides for a significant increase in the financial thresholds for cases to be heard under the simplified procedure, which will expand its scope of application.

• Requirements for legal entities: The claim limit is increased from 1.2 million rubles to 1.6 million rubles (subparagraph “a” of paragraph 16 of Article 2 of the draft).
• Requirements for individual entrepreneurs: The threshold is raised from 600,000 rubles to 800,000 rubles. (subparagraph “a” of paragraph 16 of Article 2 of the draft).
• Other categories of cases: The maximum claim amounts for other cases subject to simplified proceedings are planned to be doubled (subparagraphs “b” through “e” of paragraph 16 of Article 2 of the draft).

3. Summary Proceedings

The changes will also apply to uncontested debt collection, which will allow creditors to use this tool more effectively.

• Claims under contracts: The maximum amount of claims based on documents evidencing monetary obligations (e.g., in the event of a breach of contract) for which a court order may be issued will increase from 750,000 rubles to 1 million rubles (subparagraph “a” of paragraph 17 of Article 2 of the draft).
• Mandatory payments and penalties: Cases involving the collection of mandatory payments and penalties totaling up to 200,000 rubles will also be subject to summary proceedings (currently, the limit is 100,000 rubles) (subparagraph “c” of paragraph 17 of Article 2 of the draft).

4. Challenging Judicial Decisions

The bill reforms the procedure for appealing certain interim court rulings by introducing the principle of sequential (tiered) review.

• Summary of the changes: The provision allowing for a cassation appeal against certain rulings within one month of their issuance is being removed from the procedural codes.
• Affected statutes:
  • Rulings on the approval of settlement agreements.
  • Rulings on cases challenging arbitral awards.
  • Rulings on the issuance of writs of execution for arbitral awards.
  • Rulings on the recognition and enforcement of foreign court judgments and foreign arbitral awards.
• New Procedure: As indicated in the explanatory note, such rulings may be appealed only after the case has been heard by the appellate court and then by the court of cassation.

5. Composition of the Court and the Institution of Arbitration Lay Judges

It is proposed to optimize the composition of the court for hearing certain categories of cases and to abolish the institution of lay arbitrators.

• Single-judge adjudication: The list of disputes that judges will hear alone in appellate and cassation proceedings is expanding:
  • Disputes concerning breaches of lease and energy supply agreements (except for cases reviewed by the Judicial Chamber for Economic Disputes of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation).
  • Appeals against rulings in bankruptcy cases.
  • Cassation appeals against rulings of courts of first and appellate instance, unless otherwise provided by the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. In such cases, the presiding judge or his or her deputy retains the right to initiate a collegial review of the case if it is particularly complex.
• The bill provides for the complete abolition of the institution of lay arbitrators (Article 2, paragraph 3 of the draft law).
• The bill proposes to expand the scope of procedural actions that judicial assistants may perform, including, where necessary, allowing them to combine their duties with those of court clerks.

Link: Draft Federal Law No. 1264907-8
https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/1264907-8