Kazakhstan is particularly attractive to foreign investors due to its strategic location, stable financial system and openness to international business. However, any commercial activity may be accompanied by risks of non-payment or bad faith fulfillment of obligations by counterparties on both sides. Debt collection is an important part of protecting business interests.
The basis of any effective debt collection is a well-written contract, including clear obligations of the parties and the procedure for resolving disputes.
In Kazakhstan, the most practical significance is in claims for disputes related to the violation of contractual obligations: supply, contract, lease and services.
For entrepreneurs, it is very important to understand what legal instruments are available for debt collection. This article examines the main methods of collection based on the current legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan: pre-trial procedure, litigation and order-based proceedings, notarial executive inscription, enforcement of judgments, as well as international aspects. How to effectively and within the framework of the law protect your interests in the event of overdue debt.
Pre-trial dispute resolution procedure. In accordance with Article 148 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (hereinafter referred to as the CPC of the RK), before file the claim it is required to comply with the pre-claim procedure, if it is established by law or by the agreement between the parties.
Failure to comply with the mandatory pre-claim procedure in the presence of a corresponding requirement of the law or contract may result in the return of the statement of claim without consideration (Article 152 of the CPC of the RK).
Jurisdiction. It is necessary to pay close attention to the definition of jurisdiction, that is, the court in which the dispute will be considered in accordance with Article 29 of the CPC of the RK, claims are filed in the court at the location of the defendant, unless the terms of the agreement specify another jurisdiction.
Foreign companies have the right to provide for contractual jurisdiction or arbitration clause in the contract.
The judicial stage of debt collection comes down to confirming the debtor’s obligations to repay the debt and securing it by obtaining a court decision.
In Kazakhstan, civil proceedings are conducted in paper or electronic format, depending on the plaintiff's chosen method of applying to the court (Article 133-1 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan). For an electronic format of applying to the court, it is necessary to have a BIN for legal entities and an IIN for individuals, as well as an electronic digital signature (EDS).
Claim proceedings. To collect a debt in the order of claim proceedings, the following actions must be taken:
- Prepare a statement of claim for debt collection.
- Pay the state fee in accordance with the provisions of the Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan : 1% of the claim amount if the creditor is an individual; 3% of the claim amount if the creditor is a legal entity. In this case, the original receipt (payment order) is attached to the claim;
- It is recommended that, simultaneously with the claim, you prepare an application for the court to adopt interim measures, such as the court’s seizure of the debtor’s property (cash in banks and real estate);
These actions will limit the debtor's rights to dispose of his property and money within the amount of the claim, and will provide the creditor with the opportunity in the future to return his money collected by the court.
The timeframes for consideration by the court are determined by the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan:
- preparation of the case for trial must be carried out no later than 20 working days from the date of acceptance of the statement of claim for court proceedings, however, in certain cases, the court may extend the preparation period by 1 month (Article 164 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan);
- up to 2 months for consideration of the case itself from the date of completion of case preparation (Article 183 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
Receipt of a court decision gives the plaintiff the opportunity to forcibly collect the debt, the decision is delivered to the parties within 5 (five) working days (Article 223 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan) and can be appealed by the defendant within 1 (one) month from the date of its final issuance (Article 403 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan). According to the law, if the person who is obliged to pay the debt by the court decision evades its fulfillment, the court decision is subject to compulsory execution in accordance with the legislation on enforcement proceedings, i.e. the plaintiff has the right to contact the bailiffs.
Court decisions that have entered into legal force are binding on all state authorities, local government bodies, public associations, officials, citizens, organizations without exception and are subject to strict execution throughout the territory of the state. Moreover, in the norms of the Republic of Kazakhstan directly establishes that failure to comply with a court order entails liability (including criminal liability).
A writ of execution based on a court decision is issued by the court and transferred to the bailiff. In accordance with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Enforcement Proceedings and the Status of Enforcement Agents”, the Enforcement Agent initiates enforcement proceedings within 3 (three) working days from the date of receipt of the writ (Article 37), then conducts a search for property, seizure of assets, collection from bank accounts, etc., and enforcement measures may also be applied: seizure, sale of property, travel restrictions, etc.
The outcome of the dispute will depend on the evidence available to the plaintiff, i.e. to minimize risks and simplify the collection procedure, it is recommended to have certificates of work performed signed by both parties, reconciliation reports, letters of guarantee from the debtor, which contain confirmation of the debt and which can be used in the future to confirm the amount of the debt, since it is the quality of the evidence that allows the claimant to use other tools for debt collection, such as order proceedings.
A court order is a judicial act issued in electronic form upon a claimant’s application for the recovery of money or the reclamation of movable property from a defendant for undisputed claims, as well as upon a claimant's application for the execution of contracts concluded in the order of pre-trial dispute resolution in cases established by law or provided for by a contract, without summoning the defendant and the claimant to hear their explanations and without a trial (Article 134 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan). A court order on the merits of the stated undisputed claim is issued by the judge within three working days from the date of receipt of the application by the court. (Chapter 12 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Articles 134–143). State fee: 50% of the rate provided for filing a claim (subparagraph 10) of paragraph 1 of Article 610 of the Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
A court order is mainly used to collect under agreements concluded within the framework of pre-trial dispute resolution. For example, for the purposes of pre-trial dispute resolution, an agreement was concluded between the creditor and the debtor to settle the dispute through mediation, according to which the debtor was given a deferment of debt repayment. However, despite the deferment of the debt, the debtor still has not fulfilled his obligations to repay it. In this case, the creditor has every right to apply to the court with an application for the issuance of a court order.
The creditor also has the option of using simplified (general written) proceedings, which is applied:
- for claims up to 2000 MCI (for legal entities) and 1000 MCI (for individuals). 1 MCI in 2025 is equal to 3932 tenge.
- regardless of the price of the claim for claims based on documents submitted by the plaintiff establishing the defendant’s monetary obligations, and (or) on documents confirming the debt under the contract (Article 267-2 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
- if all circumstances are confirmed by written evidence;
no summoning of the parties, examination or interrogation of witnesses is required. State duty: 1% of the amount of the claim (Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Article 610). The following cases are considered in the simplified written procedure:
for claims for the recovery of money, if the amount of the claim does not exceed two thousand monthly calculation indices for legal entities, and one thousand monthly calculation indices for individual entrepreneurs and citizens;
regardless of the price of the claim for claims based on documents submitted by the plaintiff establishing the defendant’s monetary obligations, and (or) on documents confirming the debt under the contract.
A special feature of the consideration of cases in the simplified written procedure is the period of consideration equal to 1 month from the date of receipt of the case by the court (Article 267-1 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan). Also, a special feature is the consideration of a civil case without calling the parties. The parties who do not agree with the consideration of the case in simplified (written) proceedings have the right, within 15 working days from the date of receipt of the notification, to submit to the court a petition for consideration of the dispute according to the rules of claim proceedings in the general procedure, and the defendant - a response (objection) to the claim with the attachment of documents and evidence (Article 267-3 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan).
The advantage of this strategy is saving time and effort, since the court independently considers the case and, as a result, issues a full judicial decision. If the Defendant files his objection to the consideration of the case in the order of simplified written proceedings, the trial does not end, but the court proceeds to the consideration of the civil case according to the general rules of claim proceedings.
Ideally, this strategy will help the creditor to recover funds without much difficulty. For example, the creditor can file a claim taking into account the consideration in the order of simplified written proceedings, wait for the end of the consideration of the claim, receive a court decision and collect funds.
Out-of-court debt collection procedure. Debt collection in the Republic of Kazakhstan is possible both in court and out of court, namely using such a tool as an executive inscription, which the creditor can use by contacting a notary.
An executive inscription is an order from a notary to collect from a debtor a certain amount of money due to the claimant or to reclaim other movable property. This document has the force of an enforcement document, on the basis of which the creditors' claims are subsequently forcibly satisfied.
The notary's executive inscription is provided for by Article 92-1 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Notaries". This is an extrajudicial form of debt collection that can be applied to legal entities (including non-residents), subject to compliance with the requirements of the law.
An executive inscription is made by a notary if the submitted documents confirm the indisputability of the debtor's debt to the claimant , namely, the claimant has documents confirming the debtor's written recognition of the amount of the debt (a reconciliation statement signed by the claimant and the debtor and sealed with seals (if any), which indicate the contract number, a response to a claim in which the debtor acknowledges the obligation to pay funds, an accepted payment request or other document drawn up in accordance with the requirements of the law and signed by an authorized person).
Procedure:
- The creditor submits an application with original documents to the notary;
- A notary fee is paid (in accordance with the Tax Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan);
- The notary issues an enforcement order, which, in accordance with Article 9 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan “On enforcement proceedings and the status of Enforcement Agents”, is subject to immediate execution.
After making a notarial inscription, the notary is obliged to notify the debtor about this, the debtor in turn has the right, within ten working days from the date of receipt of a copy of the writ of execution, to send to the notary who made the writ of execution, objections to the stated claim in writing with notification.
- The debtor's objection must contain reasons for disagreement with the stated claim.
When an objection is received, the notary makes a decision to cancel the writ of execution or to refuse. Considering that the notary office is a legal institution for the provision of qualified legal assistance, ensuring the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of individuals and legal entities by performing notarial acts, checking the arguments of the debtor's objection for validity is a mandatory condition when performing notarial acts.
Thus, an executive inscription is an accessible and effective tool for debt collection for both foreign companies and legal entities registered in the Republic of Kazakhstan, in the presence of correctly executed documents, documents confirming the debt.
In practice, when the parties sign a termination agreement, it is possible to specify in the text of the agreement the amount of debt existing on the date of termination; this document will allow the creditor to use this document to apply the order, simplified proceedings and the application of an enforcement inscription, since in this document both parties confirm the existence of such debt.
This collection strategy has an advantage over others due to the speed of implementation. After the execution of the writ of execution, the notary, no later than the next working day, hands over or sends a copy of it to the debtor, the latter has the opportunity to file an objection to the stated claim within 10 working days and if no objection is received from the debtor, the notary issues the writ of execution to the claimant, or, at his request, sends it for execution within the framework of the enforcement proceedings (Article 92-6 of the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Notaries").
The main weak point of this strategy is the ease of cancellation of the writ of execution. Since, as our practice shows, to cancel the writ of execution it is enough to send a written objection, expressing disagreement with the amount or circumstances of the collection, which guarantees an almost 100% probability of its cancellation. Moreover, if the creditor managed to collect something from the debtor under the writ of execution, which was subsequently canceled, the creditor automatically has unjust enrichment and they and the debtor literally change statuses.
Conclusion: Debt collection is not only a legal but also a strategic task. A properly constructed approach will minimize losses and speed up the return of funds. In Kazakhstan, as of 2025, both judicial and extrajudicial procedures are available, the choice of strategy must be determined and chosen wisely, taking into account the specific situation (dispute). The legislation provides the creditor with sufficient protection mechanisms; the main thing is to use them in a timely and wise manner.
All conclusions and proposals reflected in this article are of a purely advisory nature and do not entail obligations for any specific actions by a third party. If you have any questions, please contact us (WhatsApp: +77715804141, email: Masatbaeva.a@qazlegalconsult.kz ).
Authors: Massatbayeva Aigerim,
Legal consultant,
University of Vienna graduate, LLM
Azambaeva Anna, lawyer
Sources and legal basis:
- Civil Procedure Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated October 31, 2015, with amendments as of May 25, 2025.
- Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On Notaries" dated July 14, 1997, with amendments as of July 17, 2024.
- Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On taxes and other mandatory payments to the budget" dated 25.12.2017
- Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan "On enforcement proceedings and the status of Enforcement Agents".
