- Статьи
- Society
- Without a special claim: participants in collective complaints to the court will be searched through the media
Without a special claim: participants in collective complaints to the court will be searched through the media
The Federation Council Committee on State Construction proposed to make it mandatory to search for participants in collective lawsuits through the media. He sent recommendations to the relevant senators, as well as to the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Migration Service, pointing out that the institute of such complaints does not work in Russia — it was introduced in 2019, but during all this time it was used only in 0.003% of cases of appeal to the courts. One of the reasons is the high entry threshold: at least 20 people are required to file such a complaint. The victims are already trying to find "colleagues" through the media, but on their own initiative. About how it is recommended to simplify this tool so that it works, see the Izvestia article.
What prevents the filing of class action lawsuits
The institute of class actions, which appeared in Russia in 2019, demonstrates low practical effectiveness, the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building stated. The recommendations on the results of the round table, which were sent to the Ministry of Justice, the Federal Migration Service and relevant senators, state that the share of collective lawsuits out of the total number of appeals to the courts is now only 0.003%.
"Massive violations in the sphere of housing and communal services, consumer rights protection and personal data require a systematic response,— the committee's recommendations say (Izvestia has them). "The reasons for the low effectiveness of the institute of class actions are the lack of transparency and excessive complexity of the procedure, a high quantitative threshold for entry, and insufficient public awareness."
The Committee recalled that the Federation Council has already developed a bill simplifying the mechanism of collective claims, but it has not yet been submitted to the State Duma. Last year, the government commission on legislative activity approved it, but with comments. As stated in her review, the implementation of the proposed changes will require the refinement of information systems, and this may entail additional federal budget expenditures. The Committee instructed the author of the document, Senator Artem Sheikin, to continue working on amendments.
In particular, the Committee considers it necessary to make the collective action mechanism more accessible. For example, the bill contains an amendment that reduces the minimum number of participants in civil and administrative cases from 20 to 10 people, and also introduces mandatory publication in the media of invitations to join the lawsuit. These positions should be maintained in the final version of the bill, the recommendations say.
"In addition, such invitations should be posted in a special information system determined by the Supreme Court and the Judicial Department of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation," Artem Sheikin told Izvestia.
According to him, the adoption of the bill will make it possible to form groups faster and launch processes more quickly, and ensure the openness of notifications.
The committee recommended that the Ministry of Justice and the Federal Bailiff Service consider the possibility of amending the law on enforcement proceedings. He asks to develop procedures for the group execution of court decisions, as well as a mechanism for the proportional distribution of recovered funds among the participants in the case.
The Ministry of Justice, in response to a request from Izvestia, reported that the committee's recommendations were already being worked out.
What is the complexity of class action lawsuits?
The institute of collective claims is relatively new to Russian legal reality, Gennady Laptev, Associate professor of the Department of Civil Law and Procedure at the M.M. Speransky Law Faculty of the RANEPA Institute of Law and National Security, told Izvestia. He called the situation a fairly obvious regulatory gap.
— It is connected with the absence in the legislation of an exhaustive list of rights and obligations of a person acting in the interests of the group, and norms that clearly define the procedure for his interaction with other members, — he noted.
The formation of a group is the defining stage of a class action, the lawyer emphasized. According to him, the vast majority of class action lawsuits simply do not reach court due to the low awareness of potential group members. Because of this, there was a problem with achieving its numerical minimum.
"It can be solved by creating a single state information resource and promoting it with the participation of major media and online services," he said. — Unfortunately, initiative actors use messengers and social networks to form a group and consolidate demands.
He recalled that the use of such tools is fraught with serious security risks and errors in the verification of the group members.
How to simplify the procedure for filing lawsuits
Izvestia was convinced: now, most often, participants in collective lawsuits are looking for "colleagues in misfortune" on social networks. For example, residents of the Orenburg region affected by the flood in 2024 acted in this way.
"A set of people willing to file a class action lawsuit against the administration of the Orenburg region for damages is being announced. If your home, property, or piece of land is affected by flooding, you can join a class action and claim damages," one of the initiators wrote on social media. However, according to the courts, the residents of this region eventually sought compensation on their own. As the prosecutor's office of the Orenburg Region reported in June 2025, since April 2024, the supervisory authority has sent over 1.5 thousand lawsuits from flood victims to the courts. More than 1,000 lawsuits were settled at that time.
Floods in Orenburg
Now you can join the lawsuit through the Justice Online service, which appeared in 2025 and was integrated into Public Services, said Olga Doronina, Associate professor of the Department of Public History, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Public and Municipal Administration of the IGSU RANHiGS.
"However, there are currently a number of problems with its use to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens, including for filing collective administrative lawsuits," she said. — The Gosuslugi portal provides an opportunity to either file an individual claim or join a class action that has already been accepted by the court for consideration. In GAS "Justice" there is only an opportunity to file an administrative claim on behalf of several administrative plaintiffs.
Thus, filing a class action is problematic, since such an opportunity is not provided in electronic form either on the Gosuslugi portal or in the Justice GAS.
Olga Doronina also noted that legislation should provide for the option of automatically combining similar individual claims into collective ones. This will help to effectively protect the rights and legitimate interests of citizens, she said.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
