Reimbursement of costs and fees in civil litigation
in Romania
The general rule in the Romanian Civil Law System is that the unsuccessful party must pay the costs and the legal fees of the procedure, respectively all taxes as requested by law, the fees of the attorneys and the judicial experts or any other specialist appointed by court and the expenses of the witnesses.
The reimbursement of costs must be requested until the closing pleadings. Furthermore, such costs must be evidence that have been paid by the requesting party until the closing pleadings.
The judge(s) has the right to decrease the costs requested by a party, except the taxes requested by law and the expenses of the witnesses. Moreover, if the claim is admitted partially, the judge(s) will decide over the amount to be paid or if the parties will bear their costs.
The taxes are set by Emergency Ordinance of the Romanian Government no. 80/2013 and depend on the object of the claim. If there are pecuniary claims, the taxes are set as follows:
|
until RON 500 (equals to EUR 110) |
8% but no less than RON 20 (equals EUR 5) |
|
between RON 501 and RON 5,000 (equals to |
RON 40 (equals EUR 10) plus 7% of the amount over RON 500 |
|
between RON 5,001 and RON 25,000 (equals |
RON 355 (equals EUR 80) plus 5% of the amount over RON 5,000 |
|
between RON 25,001 and RON 50,000 (equals EUR 11,200) |
RON 1,355 (equals EUR 300) plus 3% of the amount over RON 25,000 |
|
between RON 50,001 and RON 250,000 (equals EUR 56,000) |
RON 2,105 (equals EUR 470) plus 2% of the amount over RON 50,000 |
|
over RON 250,001 |
RON 6,105 (equals EUR 1,380) plus 1% of the amount over RON 250,000 |
For the non-pecuniary claims, the law stipulates fix taxes (for example, for the request to open the insolvency procedure the tax is amount of RON 200 (equals EUR 45)) or exemption from the payment of such taxes in case of labor cases or administrative resolution disputes.
The taxes are reimbursed totally when the taxes are not due, the amount paid is higher than the one due, the claim remained without object due to new legal provisions or when the court does not have the jurisdiction to rule in the case.
The reimbursement is partially (i) in case the claim is annulled considering that the plaintiff failed to fulfill all the requirements upon filling the request in court; (ii) if the plaintiff renounces to its claim before being communicated to the defendant(s); (iii) if the parties renounced to the trial, in a divorce; (iv) when the evidence in a court case is done through the lawyer and not by the court; (v) if a recused judge/expert/prosecutor renounce to be part of the trial or if the request to move the trial to another court is admitted.
The requests for the total or partial reimbursement of the taxed imposed by law must be filed in one year term since the right was born.