Contact: Ilmar-Erik Aavakivi, Aivar Pilv Law Office (Estonia)
On 1 July this year, the changes in the State Fees Act stepped into force which, as the politicians promised, were to reduce the state fees three to five times. As such, the changes are progressive. Yet, they have some “buts”.
One of the main “side effects” of the new state fees is the change in the calculation of the claim (action) value. The claim value is important because, as the rule, this is the basis for determination of the state fee amount.
Before 1 July, the claim value was calculated on the basis of principal claim only. Upon calculation of the value, the claims for interest filed as collateral claims, including claims for delay interest and for compensation of costs, were not taken into consideration. Previously, the court considered such collateral claims only if their sum was higher than the sum of the principal claim or their claim (action) was submitted separately, not together with the principal claim (action). From 1 July, the principal claim as well as the collateral claims are taken into consideration at the calculation of the action value. First of all, it means that the interest and delay interest sums have to be added to the claim value and the state fee paid accordingly.
Let us look at a simple example. If the creditor demanded the payment of 1000 euros of principal debt and 1000 euros of interest by the way of court action before 1 July then the claim value was considered to be 1000 euros and the creditor had to pay 255.64 euros state fee. Now, the action to claim 1000 euros of principal debt and 1000 euros of interest means the action (claim) value of 2000 euros and the state fee is 175 euros or 225 euros depending on if the statement of claim is submitted by the web page www.e-toimik.ee (meaning “e-file”) or not. If you do not submit your statement of claim thru a professional representative, who knows how to use the e-file, then the state fee does not reduce significantly; at least not in case of these sums.
In case of 1000 euros as principal claim, the sum of interests and delay interests may not necessarily be 1000 euros. Thus, let us also look at another example, this time elaborated by the Ministry of Justice. You claim 1000 euros of principal debt, 100 euros of loan interest and also a delay interest that has been calculated until the submission of statement of claim in amount of 300 euros. According to the current regulation, you may also claim an annual delay interest of 20% until the payment of the principal amount. This claim is not due at the moment of submission of statement of claim. In this situation, the claim value is calculated in the following way: 1000 euros principal debt + 100 euros loan interest + 300 euros delay interest calculated until the submission of statement of claim + 200 euros of delay interest to become payable after the submission of statement of claim. The claim value will be 1600 euros. In case of such claim value the state fee is 175 euros or 225 euros depending on the way of submission - thru www.e-toimik.ee or not. Before 1 July, the claim value would have been 1000 euros and the state fee 255.64 euros, regardless of the way of submission. Thus, a certain reduction is noticeable but not in the “advertised” amount.
Another topic is the use of www.e-toimik.ee (e-files). In principle, the discounted rate of state fee foreseen to promote the use of e-files is logical. First of all because the user of the e-files does some work that otherwise would have to be done by a court official. At the same time, professional skills and experiences are necessary in order to use the e-files, which means you need a professional representative. The submission of documents thru e-files is only convenient to the court. For the representative lawyer it is much more complicated than the e-mail format used so far. For example, you have to insert the parties of the case one by one, their contact and other data, representatives and their data plus other relevant information. Then you can proceed with uploading the document to be submitted, for example the statement of claim. After that you can upload the attachments, for example documentary evidence. Several errors have occurred in the system before and it is likely that they will appear again. If your representative acts on the basis of the hourly rate then the financial effect of the reduced state fee can be “consumed” by the additional time to be spent on the e-files. So far, the additional time has been inevitable because of the multiplicity of details and deficiencies of e-files. Thus, the submission of a document thru e-files may not be more economical in the end.
Consequently, the new system of state fees has its upsides and downsides. Definitely, one cannot say that an average court case is three to five times less costly.
