Agreement between Lithuanian and Kazakh companies: The path to agreement through legal obstacles

28.03.2024

What difficulties may a foreign company encounter?

In the world of business relations, no one is immune from the possibility of non-compliance with the terms of the contract and delays in payment. Therefore, sometimes the need to go to court becomes inevitable.

A Lithuanian company that provided freight forwarding services to a Kazakhstani organization was faced with a situation where it did not receive payment for its services. In order to protect its legal rights, this JSC contacted our company. While protecting the interests of a foreign company, we encountered difficulties with different interpretations of regulations. When going to court, the CJSC paid the state fee, in accordance with the requirements of paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 149 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a payment document confirming payment in Euros was attached to the claim.

However, the court returned the statement of claim, since the court considered that the CJSC had to pay the amount of the state duty equivalent in the national currency of the Republic of Kazakhstan – tenge at the place of filing the claim, i.e. to the State Revenue Department for the Almaly district of Almaty. The CJSC paid the state duty in euros, which, according to the court, contradicts the requirements of civil law.

Are there ways to resolve such situations?

In this regard, we have sent an appeal to the Ministry of Finance with a request to clarify the procedure for paying state fees to the court by foreign companies.

The Treasury Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan, having considered our request, confirmed that the amount of state duty was received in the Committee’s account, where the sender of the money was indicated as a Lithuanian company. The received amount was reconverted and credited to budget revenue in the prescribed manner at the official rate of the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan (as of the date of payment) using the following details:

• KBK – 108126 “State duty credited to the local budget”;
• BIN of the recipient – 910740000153, RSU “State Revenue Administration for the Almaly District of the State Revenue Department for the city of Almaty of the State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan.”

With this answer, we went back to court. The court case ended with a mediation agreement. The mediation process allowed the parties to discuss their interests, identify common points of view and find a mutually beneficial solution to the dispute. A company from Lithuania was able to protect its interests, avoiding lengthy litigation and additional financial costs, which is an important factor in the modern business environment.

Recently, mediation has become an increasingly common method of resolving disputes in judicial practice.

This case highlights the effectiveness of mediation as an alternative means of resolving disputes in international business relationships. It also demonstrates the willingness of companies to turn to innovative methods of conflict resolution instead of traditional litigation.

If you need legal protection in court, please contact the phone number +7 700 500 05 53