THE JUSTICE Ministry will not refund court fees for excessive trial durations. The reason is that a court has no way of knowing in advance how long proceedings will take and so cannot guarantee when a verdict should be issued.
The Justice Ministry was reacting to a proposal from entrepreneur organizations that the state guarantees the maximum duration of court trials after increased court fees are introduced.
Organizations such as the National Association of Employers (RÚZ), Klub 500 and the Business Alliance of Slovakia (PAS) wanted to introduce a system whereby the court should refund 50 percent of the court fee if it did not issue a verdict within one year, and 100 percent of the fee if it did not rule in the matter within two years.
Business entities also expressed their disagreement with increased court fees, which were proposed by the Finance Ministry in the amendment to the law on court fees.
By increasing court fees, the Justice Ministry hopes that citizens will use out-of-court settlement processes more frequently.
