Revised registration tariffs being charged by the courts are legal since they were approved by the President when the Budget was signed into law last November, according to the Justice Ministry.

The fact that the legal notice amending the tariffs – to be published in the Government Gazette today – was still not published did not mean the tariffs were being imposed illegally from January 1, the ministry said in a counter-protest filed in court.

The counter-protest was the response to a judicial protest filed on Tuesday by 43 lawyers against the law courts’ director general, the civil courts’ registrar, the criminal courts’ registrar and the Justice Minister.

The lawyers noted that higher registration tariffs started being imposed from January 1. These revised fees were paid whenever court documents were registered in court – such as when a new case was filed.

Legal sources said that, as a result of these new tariffs, the fees to file an average court case increased by about €200.

The lawyers argued that these new tariffs were not mentioned in the law governing fees and tariffs. They were illegal since the House of Representatives had never approved a law introducing them.

The day the protest was filed in the First Hall of the Civil Courts, the legal notice was uploaded onto the website of the Justice Ministry. A ministry spokeswoman said the legal notice would be published in the Government Gazette today. This was an administrative step that was, however, not needed to make it legal.

The fees to file an average court case increased by about €200

The spokeswoman also pointed out that on Monday – the day before the protest was filed – the issue had been addressed in the reply to a parliamentary question posed by Justice Shadow Minister Jason Azzopardi.

In the reply, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici noted that the legal notice would be published “imminently”.

Dr Bonnici also outlined the argument echoed in the counter-protest filed yesterday and signed by Attorney General Peter Grech.

In the counter-protest, the government noted that the tariffs had been listed in the Budget 2015 estimates, which stated they would start being charged as from January 1.

This meant they became legal when the Budget was signed into law on November 17 through the proclamation of the President.

For this reason the parties concerned ended the counter-protest while calling on the lawyers to stop “inventing useless and unfounded pretentions”.