On June 29, 2023, Law of Ukraine No. 3200-ІХ (the “Law”) was adopted that establishes an obligation to register legal entities through an electronic account of the Unified Judicial Information and Telecommunication System (the “UJITS”).

The amendments introduced by the Law become mandatory for all legal entities.

For business court proceedings, the amendments entered into force on October 18, 2023, whereas for administrative and civil court proceedings from February 20, 2024.

The Law establishes consequences for legal entities that fail to comply with the obligation to register with UJITS, including:

• Leaving by court without consideration or returning without consideration of claims, complaints, appeals or cassation appeals, petitions
• Disregarding by court of statements of defense, appeals or cassation appeals
• An inability to obtain copies of documents from other participants in the case

In particular, the Law amended the Code of Administrative Court Proceeding (APC), the Code of Business Court Proceeding Code (BPC) and the Code of Civil Court Proceeding (CPC). Specifically it introduces an obligation to register an electronic UJITS account for various entities—including all government authorities and legal entities.

Previously, an electronic UJITS account was known as the “official email address” and was mandatory only for certain persons—such as lawyers, notaries and government authorities. The Law now extends this obligation to all legal entities.

From the date of entry into force of the relevant provisions of the Law, all legal entities and other persons referred to in the Law must have a registered electronic UJITS account. Failure to register will yield the following:

1. Other participants in the case will be released from the obligation (established under procedural legislation) to provide copies of documents to other participants if that participant has not fulfilled its obligation to register for an electronic UJITS account (paragraph 2, part 7, Article 42 of the BPC, paragraph 3, part 7, Article 43 of the CPC, paragraph 3, part 9, Article 43 of the APC, as amended by the Law).

Please note: The APC as amended by the Law does NOT release governmental or local authorities from the obligation to send copies of documents if a participant of the case does not have an electronic UJITS account.

2. The court will not schedule hearings of statements of claims filed by persons that have failed to fulfill their obligation to register for an electronic UJITS account (paragraph 2 part 1 of Article 174 of the BPC, paragraph 2 part 1 of Article 185 of the CPC, paragraph 2 part 1 of Article 169 of the APC, as amended by the Law). This also applies to:

• Appeals (paragraph 2 of Article 260 of the BPC, part 2 of Article 357 of the CPC, part 2 of Article 298 of the APC, as amended by the Law);
• Cassation appeals (part 2 of Article 292 of the BPC, part 2 of Article 393 of the CPC, part 2 of Article 332 of the APC, as amended by the Law)
• Applications for review of a court decision due to newly discovered or exceptional circumstances (part 3 of Article 323 of the BPC, part 3 of Article 427 of the CPC, part 3 of Article 366 of the APC, as amended by the Law)
• Applications for resumption of lost court proceedings (part 1 of Article 361 of the EPC, part 1 of Article 492 of the CPC, part 1 of Article 388 of the CAP, as amended by the Law)

3. The court is obliged to return the following documents filed by persons that have failed to fulfill their obligation to have an electronic UJITS account:

• Applications for securing the claim (part 7 of Article 140 of the BPC, part 10 of Article 153 of the CPC, part 7 of Article 154 of the APC, as amended by the Law)
• Applications for the provision of evidence (part 4 of Article 111 of the BPC, part 4 of Article 117 of the CPC, part 3 of Article of the 116 APC, as amended by the Law)
• Written applications (petitions, objections) without consideration (part 4 of Article 170 of the BPC, part 4 of Article 183 of the CPC, part 2 of Article 167 of the APC, as amended by the Law)
• Application for cancellation of an award of an arbitration court (as well as of the international commercial arbitration court under the CPC) (part 3 of Article 346 of the BPC, part 5 of Article 455 of the CPC, as amended by the Law)
• (to the applicant without consideration) application for issuance of an enforcement order of the award of the arbitration court (part 3 of Article 352 of the EPC, as amended by the Law)
• Applications for the issuance of an enforcement writ to enforce an award of the arbitration court (part 4 of Article 484 of the CPC, as amended by the Law)

4. The court will refuse to issue a court order to an applicant that is obliged to have a registered UJITS account but does not (paragraph 2-1 of part 1 of Article 152 of the BPC, paragraph 2-1 of part 1 of Article 165 of the CPC, as amended by the Law).

5. The court will have the right to resolve the case based on the materials available if the statement of defense is filed by a person that has not fulfilled its obligation to register for an electronic UJITS account (part 10 of Article 165 of the BPC, part 9 of Article 178 of the CPC, part 7 of Article 162 of the APC, as amended by the Law).

The Law entered into force on October 18, 2023. From that date, all private legal entities are obliged to have registered for an electronic UJITS account for the purpose of business court proceedings. By February 21, 2024, all private legal entities are obliged to register an electronic UJITS account for the purpose of civil court and administrative court proceedings.