Vladimir Gruzdev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Russian Bar Association, noted that the prepared draft law is aimed at ensuring the protection of the right of experts to receive payments for conducting designated forensic examinations in civil proceedings.
“It is proposed to provide a procedure according to which the forensic examination can only be carried out after the preliminary deposit of a sum of money in the court account for its payment. The party who requested the examination must pay the funds,” said Vladimir Gruzdev.
He recalled that current legal regulations require that the forensic expert, regardless of receiving monetary amounts as fees, carry out a forensic examination. At the same time, the law does not provide guarantees for the protection of the right of experts to receive payment for conducting forensic examinations. The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation considered that these norms were incompatible with the Basic Law. The project was drawn up in accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.
“The initiative complements the Russian Code of Civil Procedure with rules according to which, if the sums of money payable to the experts are not deposited in the court’s account within the prescribed period, the court shall have the right to reject the application for the appointment of an examination, provided that the case can be examined and the decision has been made on the basis of other evidence presented by the parties”, stressed the president of the board of directors of the AJR.
In the same case, if the evidence presented by the parties is not sufficient to make a judicial decision, the court shall have the right to appoint an examination with the consent of an expert or a forensic institution.
“The fixing of a provision in the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation on the possibility of conducting a forensic examination with the consent of an expert in the absence of prior payment of sums of money to the court account will become a guarantor more than rights, balancing the constitutional values of an expert and one side of the case,” Vladimir Gruzdev stated.
