On 17^th July 2020, the Law of Ukraine №731-IX “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning the Procedural Deadlines during the Quarantine Established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to Prevent the Spread of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)” came into force.

The Law of Ukraine №731-IX establishes new rules for prolonging and renewing procedural deadlines during the quarantine period.

How was it regulated before?

For the first time, the legislator implemented the rules of the prolongation of procedural terms during the quarantine period on 30^th March 2020. In particular, by adopting the Law of Ukraine №540-IX the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine established an “automatic” prolongation of almost all procedural deadlines.

In practice, the courts stipulated the deadlines for procedural actions, which can be performed by the participants, not earlier than the end of the quarantine.

What has been changed?

By adopting the Law №731-IX, the legislator removed the “automatic” prolongation of procedural deadlines.

In fact, now the procedural deadlines may be prolonged by the court only if:

• the participant of the case (or the interested party*) has submitted a respective motion to the court;
• the applicant cannot undertake procedural actions within the deadlines previously determined by the court due to restrictions imposed because of the quarantine.

Moreover, the Law №731-IX stipulates conditions for renewal of procedural deadline that is already expired, in particular:

• the participant of the case (or the interested party) has submitted a respective motion to the court;
• in the motion on renewal of the procedural deadlines, the applicant indicates the reasons for the omission of deadlines determined by the court, including information why such an omission was caused by the restrictions imposed because of the quarantine;
• the court concludes that the reasons for the omission of the procedural term indicated by the applicant are justifiable.

What about procedural deadlines already prolonged “automatically”?

The Final and transitional provisions of Law №731-IX stipulates that the deadlines already prolonged by the courts according to the previous rules (i.e. the deadlines that was prolonged “automatically”) will expire in 20 days after the effective date of the Law.

Nevertheless, during such 20-day transition period, new rules for renewal and/or prolongation of the procedural deadlines are applied, i.e. there is no more “automatic” prolongation of procedural deadlines.

* the “interested party” - in the context of this legal alert means a third party who did not participate in the proceeding before, but the court has decided on its rights, interests and (or) responsibilities (given that such third party has the right to perform appropriate procedural actions).