1. For holding the trial according to the principle of a regular judicial process and within rapid and reasonable time periods, the chairing judge performs these actions within seven days from the date of submission of the lawsuit:

a) He asks the plaintiff to complete the defects of the lawsuit, setting a time period of up to ten days for him. When the plaintiff does not complete the defects of the lawsuit within the time period set, the judge gives a decision returning the lawsuit and the acts attached to it. A special appeal is permitted against this decision.

b) He notifies the defendant of the lawsuit and the acts accompanying it, setting a time period of up to ten days for it from the date of receipt of this notification for depositing objections in writing with the secretariat, the list of persons that the defendant seeks to be called to the trial in the quality of witness or expert, and their addresses, as well as full written acts, on which the performance of the administrative act and the examination of the administrative appeal were based. In the case of a lawsuit with defects, the judge sends this notification to the defendant on the date the defects are completed by the plaintiff.

c) He takes a decision for the performance of expertise, when he thinks that there is a need for special knowledge for the resolution of the case. In this decision he specifies the field of expertise, the expert from the court list, the respective duties as well as the time period for performing the expertise, which as a rule cannot be longer than 20 days.

The expert has the right to become familiar with the acts of the case and may not refuse, without a lawful reason, the assigned duty. The decision for the performance of expertise is made known immediately to the parties and to the expert. Together with the decision for the performance of the expertise, the court asks the expert to fill out and sign a personal declaration of his knowledge about the criminal responsibility in case of false expertise and invites him to take an oath that he will perform the duties entrusted to him well and with honour, for the sole purpose of making the truth known to the court. This declaration is delivered to the court together with the act of expertise. The form and content of the declaration are approved by order of the Minister of Justice. Within three days from notification of the decision, the parties may submit their claims in writing in connection with the impartiality [and] special knowledge of the expert in the respective field and ask for his exclusion when the conditions defined in article 72 of the Code of Civil Procedure exist.
The act of expertise should be deposited by the expert in the secretariat of the court in the time period set by the court. The parties have the right to take copies of the act at least three days before the date of the judicial session;

ç) He also performs other actions provided by article 158/a of the Code of Civil Procedure, to the extent they are compatible with the articles of this law.

2. All these actions of the chairing judge are performed with intermediate decisions and are documented in the minutes of preparatory actions that are compiled by the judicial secretary and signed by him and by the chairing judge.

3. The failure of the parties to appear in the preliminary actions does not constitute a reason for dismissing the trial of the case, even when they were called and notified regularly.