The legal notice announcing the new court tariffs was not published on the Government Gazette, despite it appearing on the justice services website.

On Tuesday, 45 lawyers filed a judicial protest contesting the new tariffs, arguing that higher registration fees being imposed at the law courts were illegal since they were not covered by law, and the house never passed a law to introduce the new tariffs.  Just a few hours after, the government published a Legal Notice allowing for the introduction of these increased. The increases were backdated to 1 January 2015, meaning the lawyers can’t demand a refund.

PN spokesperson on Justice Jason Azzopardi, who also signed the judicial protest, said it was evident that the Legal Notice was published as a direct reaction to the judicial protest, which had uncovered these illegalities.  

Fees have increased across the board, including tariffs for filing for actions for personal separation, divorce, annulment, maintenance, paternity, child abduction or custody and for the filing of any petition, sworn application or other act of procedure containing a claim in a Court of First Instance or Court of Appeal.  Fees have also been increased for any actions brought by the government or by any authority or public corporation where the claim is for the recovery of a penalty.