Since September 2, 2019, the provisions of the Federal law of 28.11.2018 No. 451-FZ "On amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation", which significantly change the legal proceedings and procedural legislation, have been applied.  

Appellate and cassation courts of General jurisdiction have been established (now in the system of courts of General jurisdiction and in arbitration, three compulsory instances).  Certain provisions of the APC and the CPC are modified. 

We present an overview of the most important novels.  

New procedural terms in the Arbitration (commercial) procedure.  

• increased the period of consideration of the case in the court of first instance from 3 to 6 months (9 months instead of 6 – for particularly complex cases);  
• the deadline for submitting comments to the Protocol has been increased from 3 to 5 days;  
• decreased the term for filing an application for recovery of court costs from 6 to 3 months;  
• the term for applying for restoration of the missed procedural term increased from 6 to 12 months.  

Professional representation.  

As in administrative proceedings, the requirement for representatives in the arbitration (commercial) court — the need for a diploma of higher legal education or a degree in law. Exceptions: patent attorneys, arbitration managers and other persons specified in the Federal law. In courts of General jurisdiction, this requirement will not apply to magistrates ' courts and district courts of first instance.

Challenge of judges in arbitration (commercial) courts 

The rules of challenge have changed. Now this issue, as in the courts of General jurisdiction, will be considered by the judges themselves. Earlier in the arbitration (commercial) procedure application of challenge were considered by the Chairman of the judicial membership, the Vice-Chairman or the Cairmain of the court.

New rules on prejudice.  

Other decisions of the court in the criminal case, in addition to the previously mentioned sentence, are considered as prejudicial in arbitration (commercial) and civil proceedings. Decisions on cases of administrative offences are recognized as prejudicial in civil proceeding.  

Differentiation of disputes between courts of General jurisdiction and arbitration (commercial) courts.  

The concept of jurisdiction has been replaced by "competence". If the court finds that the case is subject to consideration in another system of courts, instead of the termination of the proceedings, the transfer of the case «on competence» will be applied.  

Limitation of the freedom of speech of the disputing party.  

The judge may limit the right of performance of the participant of dispute in case of violation of the sequence of presentations, the double-nonexecution of the requirements of the presiding judge, harsh language, or abusive language or incitement of action pursued in accordance with the law.

Changing the amount of claims in simplified proceedings in arbitration (commercial) courts.  

According to the rules of simplified proceeding will be considered the case with the amount of the claim up to 400 000 rubles for individual entrepreneurs and up to 800 000 rubles – for legal entities. In public law cases the amount has remained the same – 100 000 rubles.  

In writ proceedings by the APC and CPC the single size of requirements has set in the range of 500 000 rubles.

Other procedural changes.  

• return of the appeal in the arbitration (commercial) procedure, if there is no signature or authority is not confirmed (previously there was no movement).  
• sole consideration of complaints against the rulings of arbitration (commercial) courts, except for the rulings of bankruptcy cases.  
• In case of missing the procedural term and the following refusal in claim, only this fact is mentioned in court decision without any investigation and arguments of the parties.
• the rules of the notification of the foreign parties in accordance with the Arbitration procedural code (notice is extended.)  
• courts of general jurisdiction would publish the information about the place and the time of the hearing on the Internet within 15 days  
• the transmission into the main hearing has been occurred in the civil procedure immediately after the pre-trial hearing as in the arbitration (commercial) procedure  
• the chapter dedicated to the amicable agreement has been introduced in the Civil Procedure Code. It has become possible to suspend the proceedings in order to achieve reconciliation.

Text of changes: http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_312093/