Lawyer Yll Zekaj, on the "Tempus" show on KTV, said that there will be no case in the Commercial Court where 500 euros in procedural costs are not spent.
"If the Judicial Council has issued an Instruction that has raised the categories by up to 900%, it should have also taken the ex-officio fee of lawyers, treated the same in relation to proportionality, the service provided. In the Commercial Court, there will no longer be a case that goes without 500-600 euros in procedural expenses for the initiation of the lawsuit," said Zekaj.
He said he is also against increasing attorneys' fees.
"Just as I am against increasing the fee of the judicial system, I am also against increasing the fee of lawyers. Both are a matter of institutional discretion and institutional discretion cannot be used to burden the citizen of the Republic of Kosovo with having more expensive justice," said Zekaj.
He added that the amount of ex-officio lawyers cannot reach that of the procedural expenses determined by the new Administrative Instruction of the KJC.
"In no case, even in the Special Department if we take it, the amount of ex-officio lawyers can reach the amount of procedural expenses that are now determined with the new Administrative Instruction. In no case, can it reach the amount of 10 thousand euros since there is a lawsuit of over 100 thousand euros," said Zekaj. / Oath of Justice
Zekaj on the increase in court fees: We will have a smaller number of cases than we have now
"We will be witnesses and I strongly believe that in the first statistics of the Judicial Council in the first half of this year, we will see the reflection of this Instruction and I am convinced that we will have a much smaller number of cases, especially in the Commercial Court, than we have now," said Zekaj.
The lawyer on the "Tempus" show on KTV also stated that tax-exempt submissions are rarer cases in court.
"For the complaints, we are dealing with rarer cases that are in the courts than we are in the judicial practice, which mainly deals with property-related cases, property certification, other issues, meaning there is a greater number of them and here we have an increase in taxes, while in the complaints that have been released, there are fewer cases," Zekaj added. /Oath for Justice
Zekaj: The tax increase is strange because the KJC is not financed by this, but goes to the state budget
Lawyer Yll Zekaj, invited to the "Tempus" show on KTV, considered the tax increase by the Kosovo Judicial Council strange, emphasizing that this goes to the state budget and not to the KJC.
He said that there are not many categories exempted from this Administrative Instruction and that now there are more exempted submissions than before. Zekaj emphasized that the Council's budget has always been smaller than its needs.
According to lawyer Zekaj, the Council has alluded that raising court fees has nothing to do with reducing lawsuits and the number of cases.
"The Council which has alluded that taxes have nothing to do with reducing lawsuits in the judicial system and the number of cases. I believe that this was precisely the goal of the Judicial Council, maybe not, but they have not found another solution but have chosen the easiest solution. However, the easiest solution is not the best solution," said Zekaj.
Attorney Zekaj emphasized that the KJC should put pressure on Kosovo institutions to increase the number of personnel.
"I believe that it is not up to the Judicial Council to deal with reducing the number of lawsuits, the Council should put pressure on the Government of Kosovo, on the Assembly of Kosovo to increase the number of administrative and professional personnel," said lawyer Zekaj / Oath for Justice
Shala: Court fees are normal, but the KJC linked proportionality to wrong elements
Gzim Shala, senior researcher at the Kosovo Law Institute (KLI), said that the Kosovo Judicial Council linked the proportionality of court fees to wrong elements.
"First, it is very normal to have a court fee because the court fee should be proportional, but as far as I can see, the KJC in this case has linked proportionality to some wrong elements," Shala declared on the "Tempus" show on KTV.
Furthermore, Shala said that proportionality should be related to the fact that the party must more seriously assess the real chances of winning the case.
Positive, he said, is the exemption of labor cases from court fees, because with this Administrative Instruction it turns out that the worker is being protected.
"Proportionality should be related to the fact that the parties assess a little more seriously the real chances of winning a case," he said. /Oath for Justice
Zekaj on the increase in court fees: We don't see higher fees in the region than now
Lawyer Yll Zekaj, on the "Tempus" show on KTV, where the issue of increasing court fees was discussed, said that there are no higher fees in the region either.
"We have taxes up to 900% increase from the existing ones, the 100% increase is ready for every category of taxes that have been in the past. We have not seen it in the aspect as the Judicial Council has seen it, meaning that this has resulted in economic growth in the country. We have inflation every year in the financial system in Kosovo and devaluation of the currency, as well as an increase in product prices and we have an increase in taxes by the Judicial Council," said Zeka, among other things.
According to Zekaj, we do not see higher taxes in the region than these in the new Administrative Instruction of the Kosovo Judicial Council.
"Increasing taxes by 300%, 400%, up to 900% cannot be based on a standard of citizens of the Republic of Kosovo. The Council has separated natural and legal persons, the contested area from the commercial one, which was not the case before, but it did not take into account that a natural person can be a legal person at the same time," said lawyer Zekaj.
The highest fees, he said, in the contested procedure for natural persons are 2,500 euros, while up to 10,000 euros in the Commercial Court. For small and medium-sized businesses, Zekaj said that these fees are unaffordable. /Oath for Justice
Judge Maxhuni: The court fee has been raised as a result of the economic standard and cost
Judge Agron Maxhuni said that court fees have increased as a result of economic standards and costs.
He said that the Kosovo Judicial Council issued the act based on its constitutional and legal mandate and that according to it there are two categorizations of taxes, those of persons and those of petitions.
"The fee was raised as a result of the economic standard, first, and the cost, which has expanded within the Kosovo judicial system itself, as a result of technological development, but for all civil lawsuits for which the fee was raised, it is important to emphasize that they have a property character," Maxhuni said on "Tempus" on KTV.
According to him, a large number of citizens are exempt from taxes, based on their social status.
"There is not a single case where we have a tax that is charged for issues other than taxes for lawsuits that have a property nature, respectively related to property, other issues, damages, labor disputes, administrative, commercial aspects, and those related to property aspects," Maxhuni added./Oath for Justice