Legally significant messages in civil law

According to the Civil Code, legally significant messages can take the form of notifications, a variety of types of messages, including applications. This information must be transmitted to the addressee. As soon as the moment of delivery of the legally significant message happens, the mechanism of the interaction regulated by normative acts is launched. This can have properties established by laws, an agreement concluded between the sender and the recipient of the data. The consequences of delivery of a message for one of the two parties or for both are classified as legal civil.

The Simplest Examples

For example, one firm sends another proposal to deal with the netting. This kind of statement can be classified as a legally significant message.

Another situation is possible: the seller sends a notice to the buyer that it is possible to arrive at the warehouse, where they will release the purchased positions.

In general, any correspondence sent on behalf of the organization to counterparties can be described as legally significant messages.

No one canceled the official

If some organization wishes to send official correspondence to a certain recipient - a legal entity or an individual - it must take into account that by virtue of the paper they enter at the moment when the addressee receives the sent one. This is described in article 165.1. Legally significant messages can not be such if they were not officially delivered to the recipient.

From the laws in force on the territory of our country, it follows that the counterparty has no right to shy away from receiving such an item. If the situation develops in such a way that the recipient refuses to accept the documentation or is located at a completely different address, then the GK mechanism becomes effective, legally meaningful messages that are acknowledged delivered.

But in practice?

It works like this: by default, it's customary to think that the recipient has received the mail. But for the sender it is important in the conflict situation to have documentary evidence that the dispatch was made. At the same time, one side to win the dispute must make attempts to prove that the documents were delivered, while the second party will insist on the opposite.

And there is always a risk of non-receipt of legally significant messages, even if two parties to the transaction are not going to enter into a conflict. Personnel errors, loss of documentation or problems with the selected delivery method can play a role.

Note!

From the current legislation it follows that it is possible to freely use electronic communication methods, there is no restriction in this. In addition to e-mail, you can use text messages on your mobile phone, messages in social networks and fax.

In the 65th paragraph of the Decision of the Supreme Arbitration Court under number 25, adopted in 2015, the highest court of law officially confirmed that the delivery of legally significant messages by e-mail, fax is legal, lawful, does not contradict any standards.

At the same time, many precedents are known in legal practice until 2015, when judges established that an e-mail was a means of obtaining legally significant messages and this method is more than enough.

We receive and confirm

In order for everything to be designed correctly, it is necessary not only to correctly register and send the document to the recipient. The second side of the situation should get it legally competently. This presupposes the preservation of all received messages, regardless of the form in which they came.

The sender's task is to save the documentation, from which it follows that the sending was done. If it was possible to receive the signed document, which repeats that a legally significant message has reached the second side, it is important to protect it. If there are postal stamps that declare that delivery is impossible, then they are also protected in the archives of the company in case of a conflict situation. In court this will serve as evidence in favor of the sender.

How else does it work?

A legally significant message is deemed delivered if it was possible to obtain a signature of the counterparty's official or a note on the incoming documentation.

If there is no evidence of delivery of the document, the probability of a conflict situation is high. Imagine such a case: one firm sends a second letter to the address, in which it proposes to arrange netting. The addressee does not want to accept the document, does not put a note on the incoming, and perhaps the recipient simply forgot to check the formalities of the formalization of the moment of delivery. Consequently, the addressee of the paper has the right to demand from the sender to pay the debt and fines.

Obviously - by example

Imagine that there are two firms - A and B. They have been doing business together for a long time, but now the situation is such that company A owes B a considerable amount for the services rendered completely. Suppose the amount of debt is 250 thousand.

Before company B there is an obligation to pay companies A for goods brought in completely. The amount of these obligations is 155 thousand. Perhaps partially offset the debts of each other. Company A, interested in this approach to calculation, sends an official letter to B company. The documentation is compiled in the accounting department, issued to the courier and sent to the headquarters of the firm B. In the best case, the counterparty receives the paper and signs the receipt. The accountant reflects transactions on accounts 60 (debit), 62 (credit).

Rainbow: is it always rainbow?

The described scenario is the most positive one possible. In a default situation, legally significant messages, the legal consequences of their delivery are exactly this. Similar correspondence can be used to negotiate a variety of business relationships. It is allowed to set specific deadlines for certain operations.

How else can it happen?

Consider legally significant messages in this situation: there are firms A and B cooperating as follows - one organization provides other equipment on loan. Suppose that the tenant is company B, and the lessor is firm A. The managers of company A decided that it is time to change the rental rate - you need to raise tariffs, otherwise the work of the legal entity becomes unprofitable. At the same time, the contract concluded between firms allows a change in the rent, if one of the parties so desires.

The contract contains information that a notice of a rent increase should be sent to the tenant by a courier company, and new rates begin to be effective from the first day of the next month after the introduction of the innovation. The next month is the one following the one in which the tenant signed for receiving the message.

And what happens?

In such a situation, it is tempting to resort to the following formulation: non-receipt of legally significant messages. Simply put, do not sign for the letter, which refers to the increase in rent, pretend that it was not, and continue to pay the same conditions.

In this situation, it should be remembered that any legally significant messages in civil law are deemed to be delivered by default. That is, the tenant will have to prove in court that he really did not receive any notice. If this is not done, you will have to pay back the debt, pay legal fees and cover the penalty fees because of the debt.

Laws, rules, orders

Legislation, updated in 2015 in terms of legally significant messages in civil law, was a novelty for legal entities and individuals. Before anything like this in the laws of our country did not figure. For many lawyers, entrepreneurs, the standard was incomprehensible, and its implementation was associated with great difficulties - it was necessary to restructure its vision of official communication with counterparties.

Legal practice showed that the innovation really had to do business, as there were fewer disputable situations. As is known, a change in the rules of cooperation has previously caused conflicts between the parties that concluded the contract, but even more problems were connected with proving that the operations are carried out according to the law. Now one of the stages of changing the conditions - reporting to the second party to the transaction that the first wants to change the arrangement - has become more clearly prescribed in the laws.

Is it all right?

Despite the introduction of laws that have allowed the resolution of many conflict situations, and now there are many disputes related to legally significant messages. The reason is that the current legislation does not contain an exact wording as to which notification method should be considered appropriate, in which situation legal consequences arise.

The interested party is tempted to take advantage of the imperfection of the laws in force to defend their interest in the conflict situation. In many cases, the court practice comes to the rescue, if it already had such precedents (as, for example, with e-mail notifications), sometimes one has to rely on common sense. In any case, the standards still require further development, which is what happens in the process of applying the existing legal norms.

Transactions, contracts and communications

A legally significant message is important in the case when companies A and B have cooperated for a while, which was fixed by contracts, but for some reasons one of the parties decided to change the terms. From the Civil Code it follows that we allow a refusal to fulfill part or all of the contract. This leads to the termination of the agreement, which occurs legally, if the message was accordingly sent about the refusal to fulfill the obligations.

Once one of the parties sends such a legally significant message, we can talk about the termination of the agreement. An alternative is to make changes. It starts to operate already from the moment when a legally significant message came to the addressee.

And if it's a mistake?

The most unpleasant moment is when one side sent a message about the change in the agreement, and the second did not receive it because it did not want to, and not because it hid the fact of receiving it, but did not really receive the information objectively. No less problematic is the situation when the message was delivered to the recipient, but the addressee familiarized with it much later than desired.

Such situations are associated with various disputes on the topic of how the arrangement is changing, whether it is terminated and at what point it occurs. Others doubt that the agreement is sufficient for one of the parties to refuse to fully or partially fulfill the agreement. Also disputable is the moment of admissibility of the following agreement: whether to consider as the date of making changes to the agreement the day of sending the letter or the day of receipt, the day of reading the information by the addressee? Of course, the updated laws were drafted in such a way as to minimize controversial issues, but it was not possible to completely circumvent subtle situations.

Legal meaningful messages: not only in the work of an enterprise

By the way, with this type of information it is quite possible to encounter in everyday life. What is it about? Let's imagine that a certain citizen owns a share in an immovable property and wants to sell it. In order for the procedure to go under the law, he will have to inform other participants of the planned deal. They, in turn, must agree to the sale of property to an outsider. The seller will immediately disclose the data on what price, under what conditions the sale is planned.

Other owners of the object, having their shares, are considered interested in the transaction by the persons. First, they all must refuse to purchase the sold part, only after that it will be possible to cooperate with a third party. Interested parties have a month to express their opinions. If a share in movable property is sold, then it will be necessary to take a decision within 10 days from the date of notification. If no one takes the initiative, the seller contacts the buyer from outside and implements the right to a deal. The day of notice is the date when the owners were given a notice. The day on which the rights to the transaction arise are as soon as the time period established by law passes.

And whether it came to pass?

A deal, an arrangement, a custom can determine the exact moment when new terms of cooperation come into effect. Example above: from the first day of the month following when the legally significant message was delivered.

If there is no such mention, the law considers that the period begins to be counted from the moment when the addressee received the information. Particularly interesting in this respect is the second paragraph of the first paragraph of Article 165 of the Civil Code, which states that even a message sent to the addressee was delivered, but not handed over because of reasons independent of the sender. Also the sender is not responsible for acquaintance with the content of the message. The sender's task is to send the document on time and have documentary evidence of this fact. This allows to resolve the conflict situation, if the addressee shies away from receiving information, hoping to extend cooperation on favorable terms.

Extreme event

Such a situation happens rarely, but still there is: one of the parties to the contract takes precautionary measures in advance so that legally important messages do not reach it, it provides incorrect information about the address for sending correspondence. Previously, such a "chip" worked, but under the updated Civil Code in a similar situation, the responsibility rests with the addressee. If the sender has sent the data and has confirmation of this, in the event of a conflict the court will stand by his side.

Working with citizens

The updated legislation contains new regulations regarding the address of a particular citizen's residence. For example, a person has the right to inform all organizations with which he works, the address of not only a residence permit, but also temporary residence. It can be creditors and other interested parties. Suppose that a person has two apartments, is registered in one, but lives in another.

To provide legally relevant information, it is usually given the address of registration, registration, and not temporary residence, but when sending information, the situation can develop in such a way that a person does not see the notice on changing the terms of cooperation on time. In the future, at the trial, to refer to the fact that the information is simply "not seen", it will not work, although this tactic used to work. If the sender has sent one of the information provided to him, it is considered that the recipient has been notified, and the consequences take place.