On 1 November 2011, Law of Ukraine “On Court Fees” No. 3674-VI dated 8 July 2011 took effect.
Until the Law took effect, court fees were paid pursuant to and in amounts determined according to Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine “On State Duty” No. 7-93 dated 21 January 1993.
The Law on Court Fees substantially increases fee rates for submission of statements of claim and other applications to court. It also introduces court fees for applications for temporary injunction / interim measures, securing of evidence and applications for adjoining to appellate claims or cassation appeals to court decisions/rulings. In addition, it shortens the list of exemptions and clarifies certain questions regarding the procedure for paying court fees. Fees for informational and technical support are included in court fees, i.e., instead of court fees and fees for informational and technical support, only court fees are to be paid.
Court fee rates for submission of applications to commercial courts were most substantially increased. For instance, the rate for submission of a statement of monetary/tangible claims to a commercial court was increased from one to two percent of the claim’s value (the maximum/minimum fees limitations referred to below apply).
On the other hand, the court fees for filing statements of claim regarding compensation of moral damage in material commercial disputes were significantly reduced. The earlier state duties of five percent (for claims from UAH 1,700 to UAH 17,000) and 10 percent (for claims exceeding UAH 17,000) are now being replaced with a rate of one percent of the claim's value, while the maximum fee limit is set at the level of three minimum wages (i.e. UAH 2,823 in 2011).
Below we provide a comparative table of particular rates of state duty/court fees calculated based on the non-taxable minimum income/minimum wage effective as of 2011.
| State Duty | Court Fees | |
|---|---|---|
| General Courts | ||
| Monetary / tangible claims | UAH 51 – 1 700 | UAH 188.20 – 2 823 |
| Non-monetary / non-tangible claims | UAH 8.50 | UAH 94.10 |
| Commercial Courts | ||
| Monetary / tangible claims | UAH 102 – 25 500 | UAH 1 411.50 – 56 460 |
| Non-monetary / non-tangible claims | UAH 85 | UAH 941 |
| Administrative Courts | ||
| Monetary / tangible claims | 1% of the amount of claim UAH 1 700 | UAH 94.10 – 1 882 |
| Non-monetary / non-tangible claims | UAH 3.40 | UAH 28.23 |
Claimants in actions arising from copyright law, rights to discoveries, inventions, utility models, design inventionstopographies of integrated circuits, plants’ species and rationalization proposals were excluded from the list of entities that are exempt from paying court fees.