Newsletter
LEGISLATORS OPPOSE COURT FEES FOR ADMINISTRATIVE LITIGATION
Proposed amendments to the Code of Adminis-trative Procedure (CAP) recently went through the committee stage in the Judiciary Committee of the Legislative Yuan. Revisions to introduce a system of court fees for administrative litigation were the subject of heated debate in the com-mittee, and the relevant provisions have been held back for cross-party conciliation.
At present, the administrative courts do not charge fees for administrative litigation. This is because when the CAP was introduced in 1933, the public at large did not have a strong sense of civil rights, the economy was not developed, and the general standard of living was not high. It was thought that charging court fees for admin-istrative litigation would diminish people's willingness and ability to institute administrative litigation against unlawful administrative deci-sions, and that as a result the CAP would not achieve its intended effect of protecting civil rights and correcting unlawful administrative actions.
But today, 70 years after the CAP first came into force, social and economic conditions are very different. It can no longer be considered likely that charging court fees for administrative liti-gation would diminish people's ability and will-ingness to litigate against unlawful administra-tive decisions. Based on the "user pays" princi-ple, the Judicial Yuan believes that not charging court fees is likely to increase frivolous suits, thereby overloading the courts and preventing them from protecting citizens with legitimate claims. Noting that court fees are charged for administrative litigation in other countries such as Germany and Japan, the Judicial Yuan drew up proposed amendments to introduce court fees for administrative litigation in Taiwan.
However, opponents of the change, including bar associations, take the view that charging court fees for administrative litigation will indeed de-prive the poor of the opportunity to seek judicial remedies. Furthermore, the cause of adminis-trative litigation is unlawful actions by adminis-trative agencies, and its purpose is to enable the judicial system to correct such unlawful actions. It would be unfair to require the plaintiff to pay court fees. The majority of legislators in the Legislative Yuan thus oppose the introduction of such fees.
Having tested the attitude of the Legislative Yuan, the Judicial Yuan is expected to withdraw the relevant amendments.