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Civil Code of the Russian Federation
First Part
Division I
General Provisions
Subdivision 1
Basic Provisions
Chapter 1.
Civil Legislation
Article 1. Basic Principles of Civil Legislation
1. Civil legislation is based on the recognition of the equality of the participants in the relations regulated by it, the inviolability of ownership, freedom of contract, the impermissibility of arbitrary interference by anyone in private affairs, the necessity of the unhindered realization of civil law rights, ensuring the restoration of violated rights and judicial protection of them.
2. Citizens (natural persons) and legal persons shall obtain and exercise their civil law rights by their own will and in their own interest. They shall be free in the establishment of their rights and duties on the basis of contract and in determining any terms of contract not contradictory to legislation.
Civil law rights may be limited on the basis of a Federal statute and only to the extent to which it is necessary for the purposes of defending the bases of the Constitutional order, the morals, health, rights, and legal interests of other persons, of ensuring the defense of the country and the security of the state.
3. Goods, services, and financial assets may be moved freely about on the whole territory of the Russian Federation.
Limitations on the movement of goods and services may be introduced in accordance with a Federal statute if this is necessary to ensure safety, defense of human life and health, or the protection of nature and of cultural values.
Article 2. Relations Regulated by Civil Legislation
1. Civil legislation determines the legal position of the participants in civil commerce, the grounds for the origin and the procedure for realization of the right of ownership and other rights in things, of exclusive rights to the results of intellectual activity (intellectual property), regulates contractual and other obligations and also other property relations and related personal non-property relations based upon equality, autonomy of will and the property independence of the participants.
Citizens and legal persons are the participants in relations regulated by civil legislation. The Russian Federation, subjects of the Russian Federation, and municipal formations may also participate in relations regulated by civil legislation (Article 124).
Civil legislation regulates the relations between persons engaging in entrepreneurial activity or with their participation, proceeding from the position that entrepreneurial activity is independent activity done at oneās own risk directed at the systematic receipt of profit from the use of property, sale of goods, performance of work, or rendering of service by persons registered in this capacity by the procedure established by a statute.
The rules established by civil legislation shall be applied to relations with the participation of foreign citizens, persons without citizenship, and foreign legal persons, unless otherwise provided by a Federal statute.
2. Inalienable rights and freedoms of man and other nonmaterial values shall be protected by civil legislation unless it follows otherwise from the nature of these nonmaterial values.
3. Civil legislation shall not be applied to property relations based on administrative or other authoritative subordination of one party to another, including tax and other financial and administrative relations, unless otherwise provided by legislation.
Article 3. Civil Legislation and Other Acts Containing Norms of Civil Law
1. In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, civil legislation is in the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation.
2. Civil legislation consists of the present Code and other Federal statutes adopted in accordance with it (hereinafterāstatutes), regulating the relations indicated in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 2 of the present Code.
Norms of civil law contained in other statutes must conform to the present Code.
3. The relations indicated in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 2 of the present Code may also be regulated by edicts of the President of the Russian Federation, which must not contradict the present Code nor other statutes.
4. On the basis and in fulfillment of the present Code and other statutes, and of edicts of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation has the right to adopt decrees containing norms of civil law.
5. In case of contradiction between an edict of the President of the Russian Federation or a decree of the Government of the Russian Federation and the present Code or another statute, the present Code or the respective statute shall be applied.
6. The effect and application of norms of civil law contained in edicts of the President of the Russian Federation and decrees of the Government of the Russian Federation (hereinafterāother legal acts), shall be determined by the rules of the present Chapter.
7. Ministries and other Federal agencies of executive authority may issue acts containing norms of civil law in the instances and within the limits provided by the present Code, other statutes, and other legal acts.
Article 4. The Effect of Civil Legislation in Time
1. Acts of civil legislation do not have retroactive force and shall be applied to relations that have arisen after they came into effect.
The effect of a statute shall extend to relations that arose before it went into effect only in the cases when this is directly provided by a statute.
2. With respect to relations that arose before an act of civil legislation was put in effect, the act shall be applied to rights and duties that arose after it was put into effect. Relations of parties under a contract concluded before an act of civil legislation was put into effect shall be regulated in accordance with Article 422 of the present Code.
Article 5. Customs of Trade
1. A custom of trade is a rule of conduct that has taken form and is widely applied in any area of entrepreneurial activity and is not provided for by legislation, regardless of whether it has been fixed in any document.
2. Customs of trade contradicting provisions of legislation or a contract either of which are obligatory for participants in the respective relation shall not be applied.
Article 6. Application of Civil Legislation by Analogy
1. In cases when the relations indicated in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 2 of the present Code are not directly regulated by legislation or agreement of the parties and there is no custom of trade applicable to them, then civil legislation regulating similar relations (analogy of statute) shall be applied to such relations, if it does not contradict their nature.
2. In case of impossibility of use of analogy of statute, the rights and duties of the parties shall be determined proceeding from the general principles and sense of civil legislation (analogy of law) and the requirements of good faith, reasonableness, and justice.
Article 7. Civil Legislation and the Rules of International Law
1. Generally recognized principles and rules of international law and the international agreements of the Russian Federation are, in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, a constituent part of the legal system of the Russian Federation.
2. International treaties of the Russian Federation shall be applied to the relations indicated in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 2 of the present Code directly, except in cases when, from the international agreement, it follows that the issuance of a domestic state act is required for its application.
If an international treaty of the Russian Federation has established rules other than those that are provided by civil legislation, the rules of the international treaty shall be applied.
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Chapter 2.
The Origin of Civil Law Rights and Duties, The Exercise and Protection of Civil Law Rights
Article 8. Grounds for the Origin of Civil Law Rights and Duties
1. Civil law rights and duties arise from grounds provided by a statute or other legal acts, and also from the activities of citizens and legal persons, which, although not covered by a statute or such acts, nevertheless, by the effect of the general principles and sense of civil legislation, engender civil law rights and duties.
In accordance with this, civil law rights and duties arise:
1) from contracts and other transactions provided for by a statute and also from contracts and other transactions that, although not provided for by a statute, do not contradict it;
2) from acts of state agencies and agencies of local self-government that are provided for by a statute as a ground for the arising of civil law rights and duties;
3) from a judicial decision establishing civil-law rights and duties;
4) as a result of obtaining property on bases permitted by a statute;
5) as a result of the creation of works of science, literature, or art, of inventions or other results of intellectual activity;
6) as a result of causing harm to another person;
7) as the result of unjust enrichment;
8) as the result of other actions of citizens and legal persons;
9) as the result of events with which a statute or other legal act connects the occurrence of civil-law consequences.
2. Rights to property subject to state registration arise from the time of registration of the respective rights to it, unless otherwise established by a statute.
Article 9. Exercise of Civil Law Rights
1. Citizens and legal persons may exercise at their discretion the civil law rights belonging to them.
2. Failure by citizens or legal persons to exercise rights belonging to them shall not entail termination of these rights, with the exception of cases provided by a statute.
Article 10. Limits of Exercise of Civil Law Rights
1. Actions of citizens and legal persons taken exclusively with the intention to cause harm to another person are not allowed, nor is abuse of a legal right allowed in other forms.
Use of civil law rights for the purpose of restricting competition is not allowed, nor is abuse of a dominant position on the market.
2. In case of failure to observe the requirements provided by Paragraph 1 of the present Article, the court, commercial court, or court of private arbitration may refuse the person protection of the right belonging to him.
3. In cases when a statute places protection of civil law rights in dependence upon whether these rights were exercised reasonably and in good faith, the reasonableness of actions and the good faith of the participants in civil legal relations shall be presumed.
Article 11. Judicial Protection of Civil Law Rights
1. Protection of violated or disputed civil law rights shall be provided, in accordance with the jurisdiction over cases established by procedural legislation, by a court, commercial court, or court of private arbitration (hereinafterācourt).
2. Protection of civil law rights by an administrative procedure shall be effectuated only in cases provided for by a statute. A decision taken by an administrative procedure may be appealed in court.
Article 12. Means of Protection of Civil Law Rights
The protection of civil law rights is effectuated by way of:
recognition of a right;
reinstating the situation that existed before the violation of the right and stopping the activities that violated the right or created a threat of its violation;
declaration of an avoidable transaction as invalid and applying the consequences of its invalidity or applying the consequences of the invalidity of a void transaction;
declaration of the invalidity of an act of a state agency or of an agency of local self-government;
self-protection of a right;
a judgment for performance of an obligation in kind;
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