{"id":5966,"date":"2026-11-03T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/svaroglaw.com\/?p=5966"},"modified":"2026-11-03T10:00:39","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T07:00:39","slug":"vidzyv-na-pozov-gospodarskyj-sud-15-dniv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/svaroglaw.com\/en\/blog\/vidzyv-na-pozov-gospodarskyj-sud-15-dniv\/","title":{"rendered":"Sued in a commercial court? What to get done in the 15 days for a statement of defence"},"content":{"rendered":"
15 days<\/b>is the minimum you have for a statement of defence, counted from service of the ruling: in simplified proceedings the law gives exactly that much (Part 1 of Article 251, Commercial Procedure Code<\/span>), in general proceedings the time limit is set by the court (Part 8 of Article 165, Commercial Procedure Code<\/span>)<\/span><\/div>\n

The time limit starts on the day after the ruling is served. A company with an Electronic Cabinet is deemed served on the day the court receives notification that the ruling has been delivered to the cabinet, even if nobody has opened it (Commercial Procedure Code, Art. 116(1), Art. 242(6)(2)).<\/strong> Those 15 days have to cover the statement of defence, all the evidence, motions for the court to obtain evidence and a counterclaim, while a motion to recuse the judge has to be filed even earlier, within 10 days. If the defendant fails to file a statement of defence without good reason, the court decides the case on the available materials (Art. 165(9)), which in practice means on what the claimant has submitted.<\/p>\n

In 2025, local commercial courts issued judgments in 40,762 cases and granted the claim in 34,321 of them, or 84.2 % (State Judicial Administration (SJA), Form No. 1-\u0433). The story of Barnat LLC (No. 904\/5368\/24) shows how a company can lose a case without saying a single word to the court. The court sent the ruling opening the proceedings to the company’s Electronic Cabinet back in December 2024; no statement of defence was filed, so in March 2025 UAH 2,464,888.44 was recovered from the company on the available materials. The company appealed almost five months after the judgment had been delivered to its cabinet, citing a letter from a private enforcement officer and power outages. The Commercial Cassation Court of the Supreme Court (CmCC SC) agreed that the court of appeal had been right to refuse to open appellate proceedings: a defendant with a cabinet could have known about the case.<\/p>\n

From which day the time limit for a statement of defence runs<\/h2>\n

All legal entities registered under Ukrainian law are required to have an Electronic Cabinet in the Electronic Court system, not to be confused with the taxpayer’s cabinet (Commercial Procedure Code, Art. 6(6)). According to the Joint Chamber of the CmCC SC, this obligation has applied since 4 November 2023 (No. 908\/3731\/23). The court serves documents on a cabinet holder only through the cabinet (Art. 6(7)). The day of service is the day the court receives notification that the ruling has been delivered (Art. 242(6)(2)), and a ruling sent after 17:00 is deemed served on the next working day (Art. 242(6)). A ruling delivered to your advocate’s cabinet is deemed served on the company as well (Art. 242(7)). Checking the cabinet only now and then is risky: in case No. 916\/4915\/24 the defendant said it learned of the judgment only when its bank accounts were frozen. The CmCC SC pointed out that a cabinet holder \u201cshould have taken steps to check notifications at certain intervals\u201d.<\/p>\n

The first day of the time limit is the day after service, the last day lasts until 24:00, and if the last day is a non-working day, the time limit expires on the first working day after it (Art. 116(1), (4), (6)). A document handed in at the post office before the end of the last day is filed on time, but an act that can only be performed at the court must be done before the end of the court’s working hours (Art. 116(6), (7)). A hypothetical example: the ruling is delivered to the cabinet on Monday, 5 October 2026, at 15:00. The first day of the time limit will be 6 October, and the fifteenth will be Tuesday, 20 October. Had the court sent the ruling at 17:30, it would have been deemed served on 6 October, and the time limit would have expired on Wednesday, 21 October. Under martial law, Article 73 of the Labour Code does not apply (Law No. 2136-IX, Art. 6(6)), and we have not found a Supreme Court position on whether a public holiday moves the end of a time limit. If the last day falls on a public holiday, file your documents the day before.<\/p>\n

To a company without a cabinet, the court sends the ruling on paper by registered mail (Art. 242(11)), but a claimant who filed the claim through the Electronic Court is not obliged to send it paper copies (No. 908\/3731\/23). If a Ukrainian company without a cabinet files a statement of defence and gives no good reasons, the court may decide the case on the available materials (Art. 165(10)) and return its applications and motions without consideration (Art. 170(4), second paragraph). These consequences apply even when the company is represented by an advocate (Art. 6(6), second paragraph), so when you arrange court representation in your case<\/a>, check whether the company itself has a cabinet.<\/p>\n

A 15-day plan: what to do from day one<\/h2>\n
  1. Day 1: the date, the type of proceedings and the time limit.<\/strong> Take a screenshot of the line showing the date and time of delivery, download the claim with its annexes and find in the ruling the type of proceedings and the time limit for the statement of defence (Commercial Procedure Code, Art. 176(2)(4), (8)). If the court chose simplified proceedings at the claimant’s request, it gives at least 5 days to object to them (Art. 176(4)), and once those days have passed, you can switch to general proceedings only for good reasons (Art. 250(5)).<\/li>
  2. Days 1\u20133: the court, the judge, arbitration and limitation.<\/strong> As a general rule, a claim is filed at the defendant’s location as recorded in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (Art. 27(1)\u2013(2)), and a case outside the court’s jurisdiction is transferred to the proper court (Art. 31(1)(1)). A reasoned motion to recuse the judge is filed within 10 days of receiving the ruling (Art. 38(3)), but disagreement with the judge’s procedural decisions is not a ground for recusal (Art. 35(4)). If the contract contains an arbitration clause, object to the dispute being heard by the commercial court before your first submission on the merits (Art. 226(1)(7)). For claims to recover a forfeit, whether a fine or a penalty (penya), the limitation period is one year (Civil Code, Art. 258(2)(1)).<\/li>
  3. Days 3\u201310: evidence and advocate’s requests.<\/strong> The defendant submits evidence together with the statement of defence (Art. 80(3)). An advocate’s request must be answered within 5 working days, and if a lot of information is requested, the time limit can be extended to up to 20 working days (Law \u201cOn the Bar and Practice of Law\u201d, Art. 24(2)), so it is better to hand the case to a litigation lawyer<\/a> in the first few days. If a piece of evidence cannot be submitted on time for objective reasons, notify the court in writing what the evidence is, why you do not have it and what you have done to obtain it (Art. 80(4)), and the court may grant additional time (Art. 80(5)). A motion for the court to obtain evidence is filed within the same time limit and lists the steps you have already taken on your own. A motion filed later will not be granted unless you prove that the reasons for the delay were beyond your control (Art. 81(1), Art. 81(2)(4)).<\/li>
  4. Days 10\u201314: the statement of defence, the counterclaim and the cost estimate.<\/strong> A preliminary estimate of legal costs is filed with the statement of defence (Art. 124(1)), and a counterclaim within the same time limit (Art. 180(1)). In simplified proceedings, this is also when you ask for a hearing with the parties notified; otherwise the case will be heard without notifying the parties, on the available materials (Art. 252(5), (7)).<\/li>
  5. Day 15, by 24:00: filing.<\/strong> File your statement of defence together with the evidence through the Electronic Court. Copies are sent to the other participants at the same time as filing (Art. 165(5)), and those who have a cabinet receive them through the system (Art. 42). Proof of sending is attached to the statement of defence and, if a representative signs it, a document confirming their authority as well (Art. 165(6)\u2013(7)).<\/li><\/ol>\n

    \"Calendar<\/a><\/p>\n

    If you noticed the ruling only a few days before the time limit runs out, in general proceedings apply for an extension before it expires: a time limit set by the court is extended on such an application or on the court’s own initiative (Commercial Procedure Code, Art. 119(2)). It is worth handing the claim, the ruling and the contract to a commercial disputes lawyer<\/a> the same day, so that the application and the statement of defence are prepared in parallel.<\/p>\n

    What a statement of defence must contain<\/h2>\n