An amendment to the Act on Court Fees became effective on 30 September, changing how the deadline set by the court for participants in the proceedings to pay the court fee is established. Now the period must be at least 15 days, although the court can set a shorter deadline in exceptional cases.
The most important change, however, is in the consequences for failure to pay the court fee on time. Under the obsolete Act, upon the expiry of the deadline for payment of the court fee, the court would stay the proceedings, but participants still could pay the fee within the deadline for filing an appeal against the decision to stay the proceedings. Now, if the participant pays the court fee after the expiry of the deadline, the court will not accept it and the proceedings will be stopped. The court fee is considered paid when the funds are actually deposited in the bank account of the court, not the day when the payment order was issued.
