At the beginning of this year, a new administrative instruction for the unification of court fees came into force, an instruction that also multiplied prices.
This price increase mostly affects civil and administrative cases, and according to lawyers, the impact on the decline in the number of cases initiated in Court will soon be noticeable.
Lawyer Yll Zekaj says that justice is becoming a privilege only for those who are rich.
"The Judicial Council has not found another way to reduce and manage this high number of cases in the Judicial Council, and the easiest solution seems to be to increase taxes and ensure that citizens and businesses think twice about sending a case to court due to the high procedural costs that will be incurred," Zekaj stated.
"This tax is justified in the services that the citizen receives from the court, namely administrative and similar services, only in a basic case, for example, a certificate, an A4 letter, a certificate that a business has not been subject to bankruptcy proceedings, which is obtained at the Commercial Court before this instruction cost 5 euros, while now the same has become 30 euros, this is undoubtedly just extortion of businesses for a very basic service that should be offered electronically", stated Qendrim Arifi - Lawyer.
Meanwhile, the Kosovo Institute for Justice says that the Judicial Council should reflect and change this administrative instruction.
"We have an irresponsible administration that is forcing citizens to seek their rights through the courts and this could eventually favor an irresponsible administration and not empower citizens. Taxes are something that must be paid, but they definitely have to be proportional, otherwise it jeopardizes citizens' access to justice," emphasized Gzim Shala - Researcher at IKL.
Despite the reactions it has provoked, especially among the legal community, no complaints have officially been filed with the Kosovo Judicial Council.
This is what this institution said about the television, and for the justification they said that we should refer to the press release issued weeks ago, in which they said that the change in the instruction was made with the aim of adapting to the economic reality and current standards in the Republic of Kosovo.
The old administrative instruction was in effect from 2017.
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