Dispute Resolution Insider - Thirteenth Edition

TO OUR READERS

Welcome to the Spring Edition of the DRInsider, the quarterly Newsletter of the Wolf Theiss Disputes team, in which we provide an overview of recent developments in CEE/SEE.

On 26 March 2019, the EU Parliament approved the controversial Directive on the Harmonization of the EU Copyright Law; in spite of considerable reservations and despite Europe-wide protests. We provide you with an overview of the most discussed provisions.

There have also been some interesting developments in the national jurisdictions in recent months:

Following the general aim for clearer and faster proceedings, we present the essential changes of the latest amendments in Romanian civil procedure law. In addition, we look at issues connected to the invalidity of an arbitration clause with the latest statements of the Austrian Supreme Court and a recent decision of the Russian Supreme Court on the use of model clauses to avoid any uncertainties.

We also introduce the latest changes in the Croatian legislation. A new Act on Whistelblowers has been implemented. Furthermore, a new Act on Nullity of Loan Agreements with Foreign Creditors had to be adopted, due to the CJEU's declaration of the former act's incompatibibility with EU law.

There have also been crucial decisions of the Austrian Supreme Court which will be addressed.

Read inside to find out more.

CIVIL PROCEDURE

Recent And Important Amendments To The Romanian Civil Procedure Code

By Andreea Zvac and Cristian Gorgoi

On 18 November 2018, Law no. 310/2018 for amending and supplementing the Romanian Civil Procedure Code ("RCPC") was published in the Official Gazette.

Most of the amendments made to the RCPC are aimed at simplifying court procedures and compliance with the latest decisions taken by the Romanian Constitutional Court in relation to court jurisdiction.

One important amendment consists in fully removing the filtering procedure for cassation appeals which was previously conducted by the High Court of Cassation and Justice in non-contentious procedures aimed at ruling on the admissibility of the cassation appeal. This will certainly lead to a faster resolution of cassation appeals which were very much delayed by this filtering procedure.

Significant amendments have also been made in relation to the jurisdiction of Romanian courts to resolve cassation appeals. Due to the wording of the previous version of the RCPC there have been extensive debates on whether or not the High Court of Cassation and Justice should resolve all cassation appeals, irrespective of the case value and the court which delivered the appealed judgement.

With the latest amendments to the RCPC it has been established that: (i) the tribunals have jurisdiction to rule on cassation appeals filed against judgments issued by the first instance courts (in Romanian "Judecatorii"); (ii) the courts of appeals shall have jurisdiction to rule on cassation appeals against judgements issued by the tribunals; and (iii) the High Court of Cassation and Justice shall only resolve cassation appeals filed against judgements issued by the courts of appeals. This has actually confirmed the general rules of jurisdiction and court hierarchy which were in place before 2013 (i.e. before the new RCPC was enacted).

Moreover, by the newly enacted amendments, the legislator excluded the value limitations (Article 482 RCPC) in relation to the possibility to file a cassation appeal. At the moment any judgement (issued in an appeal or in a case where it is not possible to file an appeal) can be challenged by a cassation appeal irrespective of the case value.

The RCPC amendments also refer to the provisions (Article 183 para. (1) and (3)) regulating the moment when a procedural document is deemed to be filed with the court, in case of communication via fax or email. It was now established that documents sent via fax or email shall be considered submitted at the court at...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT