The PBP Law Firm has initiated a class action for the annulment of provisions relating to the stamp duty, which is in force as of January 1, 2024. One such particular provision currently states that “the stamp duty may not be collected from the party that lost the case”. According to Andrei Briceac, lawyer-coordinator of the PBP Law Office, the impossibility of recovering the stamp duty from the defendant hurts everyone who files an action in court.
Andrei Briceac mentioned that the purpose of initiating the action is to sensitize as wide a group of litigants as possible, so that they adhere to the legal procedures initiated by them, in order to cancel some regulations regarding the stamp duty. “The stamp duty is a 200 lei fee that is charged in addition to the state tax from the persons who apply to the court in certain categories of judicial proceedings. This was introduced by the new State Tax Law and entered into force on January 1, 2024”, the lawyer said in an interview.
The attorney explained that the cancellation of the stamp duty is not what is sought. This fee is transferred to the courts’ account and constitutes a financial contribution to the financing of the courts. It is only aimed at canceling some provisions regarding the stamp duty, in particular Art. 2(2) of the State Tax Act, which provides that “stamp duty may not be collected from the party who lost the suit”.
“Art. 2(2) of the State Tax Act should be declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court. This legal text contravenes the constitutional guarantee regarding the protection of property, but also the principles of private law: the full reparation of damage and the legal protection of civil rights. The state cannot justify a legitimate purpose for this interference. Additionally, the Strasbourg Court can find that the mentioned legal text contravenes Article 1 of the ECHR Additional Protocol 1, for the same reason, that it institutes an interference that does not pursue a legitimate aim”, states Andrei Briceac.
In his opinion, every person who files an action in court is prejudiced by the impossibility of recovering the stamp duty from the defendant. According to him, there is no logic in the fact that the stamp duty is not considered “court expenses”, where all the expenses borne by the person during a court process, for the restoration of rights are included - state tax, lawyer's fee, postage, shipping, public citation, etc.
But, says the lawyer, there are categories of people who suffer much greater losses. This includes non-bank lending organizations, debt collection companies, condominium owner associations, maintenance service providers, etc. According to statistical data, there are companies that advance over ten thousand shares annually, many of them in the procedure of small value. In such a situation, the damage suffered by such an entity reaches over 2 million lei. Cumulatively, the damage can reach tens of millions of lei annually - says Andrei Briceac.
