You're reading: Yanukovych signs law on court fees

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has signed a law on court fees, reads a posting on the Web site of the head of state.

The report says, with reference to an advisor to the Ukrainian president and head of the chief department for the judicial system at Presidential Administration of Ukraine, Andriy Portnov, that there is no cause-effect relation between the reduction in court fees and fears of journalists that this could affect the issue of a ruling by court on the possible recuperation of non-pecuniary damages against the mass media.

"The law does not change the procedure for proving the size of non-pecuniary damage, so we forecast that the number of claims for the recuperation of non-pecuniary damages against journalists will not grow, as this concerns different subjects of legislative control," Portnov said.

The report says that the law does not threaten the mass media, as the guarantees of their operation established in the Constitution and Ukrainian laws, in particular, in a recently passed law on access to public information, are not restricted.

The reinforcement of the independence of courts is an additional guarantee for freedom of speech in the country, reads the report.

The law says that the court fee is collected at a fixed size set in the law as of January 1 of the year when claims were filed to courts, being related to the value of a claim.

The funds collected as court fees will be sent to strengthen the material and technical base of courts and provide for the implementation of justice as a whole. The mechanism will help ensure the stable work of the courts.

In addition, the law foresees discounts or small court fees for pensioners, disabled people and certain other persons.

As reported, the law stipulates the legal reasons for collecting court fees, those obliged to pay the fees, the sizes of court fees, the payment procedure, as well as reasons for exemptions for fees and returning court fees.

According to the document, a court fee is a fee collected all over the territory of Ukraine for filing claims and appeals in court, and the issue of documents by courts. It is added to court expenses.

The law reads that the court fee is to be paid by citizens of Ukraine, foreign citizens, and people without citizenship, enterprises, companies, organizations, and other legal entities, including foreign ones, as well as entrepreneurs that address the court.

According to the law, a court fee is to be paid for filing a lawsuit or another legal application, an appeal against a court ruling, an application for the revision of a court ruling due to discovering of new evidence in a case, an application for cancelation of an arbitration ruling, and an application for revision of court rulings by the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

The law also envisages cases when court fees are not set.

The document also fixes the sizes of court fees, depending on the category of the appeal or claim filed in court.