MOSCOW, June 27 (RAPSI) – The State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament, adopted a bill allowing citizens to file class action lawsuits with general jurisdiction courts in the third and final reading on Thursday.

According to Chairman of the State Duma Committee on state building and legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov, in many countries people may lodge suits for protection of rights and legal interests of a group of people that streamlines and pushes consideration of similar cases.

People in Russia currently may lodge class action suits only with commercial courts.

The bill provides for possible filing such lawsuits with general jurisdiction courts. This legal institution may be used for all types of civil cases excluding cases subject to special proceedings.

If adopted the initiative would take effect on October 1, 2019.