On 16 June 2021 the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation approved the Digest of case law on resolution by the courts of disputes relating to compulsory enforcement of the requirements of enforcement documents by banks and other lending institutions. The Digest summarized a number of important clarifications on the issues of banks’ work with enforcement documents.

The most important clarifications include, in particular, the clarification with regard to the procedural differentiation: in this connection, the lawfulness of the bank’s actions must be challenged under the rules of the Administrative Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (or section 24 of the Commercial Procedure Code of the Russian Federation) since the bank performs public functions in enforcement proceedings. However, if the claim on the recovery of damages is submitted against the bank in accordance with the procedure set forth in the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the court must establish the lawfulness of actions in the civil case.

Moreover, the Supreme Court included the number of other important clarifications in the Digest. The bank’s obligation to provide information on the paid amounts and on the specific grounds of the impossibility of enforcement of an enforcement document upon the application of the recoveror could be included among such clarifications. The Supreme Court also clarified that the recoveror is entitled to request the bank via an application to enforce an enforcement document in part, and the bank’s obligations were specified: for example, if the recoveror specifies one settlement account of the debtor in the application, the bank is entitled to debit money from other accounts not protected by enforcement immunity.

These and other clarifications see in more detail in Digest of case law of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 16 June 2021