Chamber of Legal Procurators' views on Bill 27

The Chamber of Legal Procurators, while fully agreeing with the Chamber of Advocates' position (The Sunday Times, July 18), has listed some amendments it would like to propose to Bill 27 amending the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure. In a press release, the chamber said it insists that the amendments, which are listed below, be carried out before the Bill becomes law.

1. The debtor's reply to a creditor's intimation by judicial letter should be filed in the court registry within the prescribed period of 30 days from the day on which it is served on the debtor. Such reply should not need to be served on the creditor.

2. The Registrar of Courts should issue a certificate upon the lapse of the time given to the debtor to reply to the judicial letter if no such reply is filed. This certificate should state that the creditor now possesses an executive title in regard to the debtor and the sum due in Maltese liri. The certificate should clearly state the name and identity card number of both the creditor and the debtor and it should be on the basis of the judicial letter accompanied by the certificate together that one should be able to execute the executive title.

3. The provisions of the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure regarding precautionary warrants should be amended so that precautionary warrants can remain valid at least up to such time as the aforementioned certificate stating that a creditor now has an executive title is issued.

4. Lawyers' and legal procurators' fees should be adequately provided for. These should reflect the value claimed in the judicial letter and should become due upon the issue of the certificate stating that a creditor now has an executive title.

5. The bill of costs of the judicial letter should be provided by the registrar within a specified period, ideally along with the issue of the certificate stating that a creditor now has an executive title.

The Chamber of Legal Procurators would expect a decrease in the number of lawsuits instituted (and that would have to be decided by the judiciary) and a drastic increase in the number of executive titles if Bill 27 were to become law.

In the present state of affairs in the courts one has to wait weeks and sometimes months to have a bill of costs and sometimes even longer than that to get a warrant executed by the inadequate number of court marshals who also have other dutieso.

If both these sections are not drastically improved, then Bill 27 will only serve to statistically decrease the number of lawsuits and increase the number of warrants to be executed, the chamber stated. Creditors will only be satisfied once they can have their claim fully paid, and this in good time.