The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation: a reasonable change in the terms of the contract in accordance with part 65.1 of Article 112 of Law No. 44-FZ is lawful
In April 2021, the municipal district administration and the contractor signed a contract for construction work. The work had to be completed by September 1, 2022. At the same time, the deadline for the completion of the work was extended by an additional agreement until November 15, 2022. At the same time, according to the results of the prosecutor's inspection conducted in September 2022, a violation of the originally agreed deadline for the completion of work was found. In this regard, the contractor's official was brought to administrative responsibility in accordance with Part 7 of Article 7.32 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.
In making the relevant decision, the justice of the peace concluded that there were no circumstances beyond the contractor's control, as a result of which it would be obvious that the contract could not be executed within the prescribed period, therefore, in the opinion of the judge, the conclusion of an additional agreement to the contract on the extension of its execution was contrary to the principles of the contract system in the field of procurement.
The higher courts also agreed with the conclusions of the justice of the peace. Meanwhile, the judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized the conclusions of the lower courts as premature.
In particular, the relevant decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation notes that the need to amend the contract was due, among other things, to the need to amend the project documentation. At the same time, it is emphasized that the conclusions of the justice of the peace on the inadmissibility of adjusting the original terms of the contract were made without taking into account the changes made to the legislation on the contract system in 2022, by virtue of which a change in the essential terms of the contract by agreement of the parties is permissible provided that the totality of conditions defined by legal norms is observed. It is also noted that the relevant funding limits under the municipal contract have been postponed to 2023.
The case of an administrative offense has been sent for a new hearing to a justice of the peace.
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