CEDH · CASELAW;CLIN;ENG — 9 décembre 2010

.s3ABFC313 { font-size:10pt } .sEB86A30B { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:14pt; page-break-after:avoid } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sA241FE93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:18pt; text-align:justify; page-break-after:avoid; border-bottom:0.75pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .s2EF62ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:12pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s8F2B0B1B { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt; page-break-after:avoid; font-size:12pt } .s9FF10068 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:12pt } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .s5F48796F { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify } .s5CB9E8AB { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:justify; border-bottom:1pt solid #000000; padding-bottom:1pt } .sDF790F1E { margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s3DC36BA9 { font-family:Arial; text-decoration:underline; color:#0069d6 } Information Note on the Court’s case-law No. 136 December 2010 Urbanek v. Austria - 35123/05 Judgment 9.12.2010 [Section I] Article 6 Civil proceedings Article 6-1 Access to court Fixing of court fees payable by creditor of insolvent company by reference to total value of claim: no violation   Facts – The applicant brought court proceedings under section   110 of the Insolvency Act for a declaratory decision that a company which had gone into liquidation owed him some EUR 2,400,000. The court fixed the fee payable to it as a percentage of that sum, which it regarded as the amount in dispute, rather than as a percentage of the much lesser amount the applicant actually expected to recover from the company’s assets (EUR 36,000). As a result, the applicant was charged almost EUR 30,000 instead of EUR   550 in court fees. In his application to the European Court, he complained of a breach of his right of access to court. Law – Article 6 § 1: There were a number of factors that distinguished the applicant’s case from cases in which the Court had found a violation of the right of access to a court on account of excessive court fees. Firstly, the conduct of the proceedings under section   110 of the Insolvency Act was not dependent on the fees being paid: the domestic courts were required to conduct the proceedings regardless of whether the fees were paid or not. Secondly, although the applicant had asserted that the level of fees he was required to pay was excessive, there was nothing unusual in a system in which court fees for pecuniary claims were dependent on the amount in dispute. The applicant’s argument that the fees should have been fixed by reference to the amount he was likely to receive in the insolvency proceedings as opposed to the amount he had claimed was based on speculation, namely that the fees might exceed the amount he finally obtained. Moreover, as the domestic courts had rightly pointed out, the risk of a claimant having to pay fees which exceeded the final award was not confined to claims made in the context of insolvency proceedings. Such a risk could not in itself invalidate a system linking court fees to the amount in dispute. Lastly, the court-fee system at issue appeared sufficiently flexible, as there had been a number of possibilities at the applicant’s disposal to obtain full or partial exemption from the requirement to pay court fees if he was eligible for legal aid or was liable to suffer particular hardship. In sum, it had been within the State’s margin of appreciation to link the court fees in respect of pecuniary claims to the amount in dispute and there was no reason of principle to distinguish the proceedings under section   110 of the Insolvency Act from other civil proceedings. Accordingly, the very essence of the applicant’s right of access to court had not been impaired. Conclusion : no violation (unanimously).   © Council of Europe/European Court of Human Rights This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court. Click here for the Case-Law Information Notes