For many years we have been hearing accusations against our judicial system, both from outside and from within. The arguments are different, but the conclusion is the same – reforms are needed, and they also need money. Many have heard about external grants, but each judge still has hundreds (!) of civil cases to work on, and a way out of the crisis has not yet been found.
The law allows (sometimes requires) most ordinary disputes to be resolved in arbitration, but most go to state courts. The reasons for this are not only in ignorance of the institution of arbitration, but also in the opinion since Soviet times that the state services are always cheaper. Alas, this opinion is often wrong.
An example – please: even the maximum fee in the Economic Arbitration Court of the Republic of Moldova does not exceed 2.5% of the value of the claim, and in the state court the standard tax is 20% higher.
Alas, in any of the countries with which we consult, going to court is very “expensive” and is a last resort.
Now we also have adopted a radically new law “on state duty” in the first reading, which:
• Significantly increases taxes when applying to state courts, which are even higher than arbitration fees when the value of a claim increases;
• the upper limit is canceled – the state tax will be unlimited;
• a stamp tax (taxa de timbru) is additionally introduced, that is, paying the state tax is only half the battle, and for each procedural action (on adjourning a meeting, on interim measures, challenges, transferring cases to another instance, skipping a procedural deadline, restoring a missed procedural deadline, speeding up the consideration of the dispute, explanation of the adopted acts, etc.) in addition, it will be necessary to pay the stamp tax directly to the budget of the court.
The purpose of the adoption of the law, the authors explain not only the need to replenish the budgets of the courts, but also to stimulate out-of-court settlement of disputes, along with the duty of state judges to recommend that the parties refer the case to an arbitration court (Article 185, part (1), paragraph e), 202 CPC RM, Art. 31 of the Law of the Republic of Moldova No. 134-XIII of 06/03/1994 on the sale of goods).
You can read the text of the draft law here.