The Institution of Challenging Decisions on Bringing to Administrative Responsibility in the Arbitrazh (Commercial) Courts of the Russian Federation: Genesis and Current State

The paper elucidates the genesis and current state of the institution of challenging administrative decisions on bringing to administrative responsibility in arbitrazh courts. The periods of the Soviet Union during perestroika, as well as the modern Russian Federation, are widely covered. The paper points out the problem of an unreasonably high burden on arbitrazh courts due to complaints against administrative bodies. The paper describes the characteristics of participants involved in the arbitrazh procedure regulated under Article 207 of the Commercial Procedural Code of the Russian Federation (CPC RF). The paper dwells on problems related to the definition of the subject matter jurisdiction of the arbitrazh court and the differences between cases considered under the norms of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation and cases considered under the norms of the CPC RF. In addition, the author provides the cases of the most common strategies employed by applicants regarding pointing out the insignificance of the offense and the attitude towards small businesses. The author proposes to amend Article 210 of the CPC RF to expand the grounds for the mandatory appearance of a representative of an administrative body, as well as Article 207 of the CPC of the Russian Federation, allowing the self-employed to be considered possible applicants in arbitrazh (commercial) courts on an equal basis with individual entrepreneurs.