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THE RIGHT TO USE MOTHER TONGUE/NATIVE LANGUAGE BEFORE CIVIL COURTS IN THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC AFTER CIVIL LEGISLATION AMENDMENT
Abstract
Less than a year after re-codification of civil procedural law, the first amendment to civil procedure, the Civil Litigation Code, Act 160/2015 Z.z., has been passed. The amendment applies to the right of the party to act before a court using his/her native language or the language the party can understand. The presenters of the legislative proposal substantiated the need to amend the law by reasons of its harmonization with the existing rules of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages which is binding on the Slovak Republic. With reference to the Charter they sought to amend the partys right to act before a court by using the language he/she can understand and the right to make submissions and present evidence also in the language other than the official language, and to include the obligation of the court to provide for translation of documents and evidence at the costs of the State. The law was passed but not in the same form as drafted in the original legislative proposal. The subject matter of this paper is an analysis of the legislative amendment, on the one hand, and comparing the original legislative proposal with the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages, on the other hand. Its aim is also to show how the new law has affected the original right of the party to use his/her native language before a court, indicating also whether the presenters of the legislative proposal have been successful in achieving the aim intended by the adopted amendment.
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References10
To make distinction between the rules contained in § 155 of Civil Litigation Procedure, in this article, the original text is designated by the word “original“, and the amended text is designated by the word “amended“.
The Charter was adopted in Strasbourg on 5 Nov. 1992. In the Slovak Republic the Charter was promulgated under No. 588/2001 Z. z., in force as of 1 January 2002.
Printed Matter No. 353 of 2 Jan. 2017, available at: https://www.nrsr.sk/web/Default.aspx?sid=zakony/zakon&MasterID=6176
Under Article 3 (1) of the Charter regional and minority languages in the Slovak Republic include: Bulgarian, Czech, Croatian, Hungarian, German, Polish, Roma, Rusyn and Ukrainian.
This article is based on the English version of the Charter available at www.coe.int on 20 March 2017. The Slovak version of Article 9 (1) (d) of the Charter available at web pay portal www.aspi.sk and www.epi.sk on 20 March 2017 refers only to Article 9 (1) (b) (i) and (ii), not including (iii). From the Slovak version of the Charter it may be implied that the party has the right to produce documents and evidence in his/her regional and minority languages and to their translations, but not without the additional expenses incurring for the party.
Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic of 25 April 2002, Case No. 2 So 24/2002. Based upon the prescribed procedure, the decision was published in the Collection of Opinions of the Supreme Court and Decisions of Courts of the Slovak Republic under No. R 74/2003, as a result of which it should serve as recommendation for future adjudication of the courts in order to ensure consistency of judgments.
Judgment of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic, Case No. 1 Sža 24/2008, of 21 Oct. 2008. The fact, however, is that this decision, unlike that quoted in Note No. 5 failed to pass special procedure required for its publication in the Collection of Opinions of the Supreme Court and Decisions of the Courts of the Slovak Republic.
Resolution of the Supreme Court of the Slovak Republic of 19 Dec. 2006, Case No, 2 To 7/2006, published in the Collection of Opinions of the Supreme Court and Decisions of the Court of the Slovak Republic under no. R 45/2007.
Cf.: Handl, V., Rubeš, J., Macur, J., Steiner, V., Hlavsa, P., Winterová, A., Plundr, O., Kamenická, J., Fiala, J., Soukup, J. Občanský soudní řád. Komentář. I díl., Praha, Panorama, the Czech Republic, 1985, s. 154.
Cf. also: Števček, M., Ficová, S., Bajánková, J., Baricová, J., Cirák, J., Gešková, K., Grófiková, Z., Kotrecová, a., Lazíková, J., Macek, J., Procházka, R., Smyčková, R., Valová, K. Občiansky súdny poriadok. I. diel. Komentár. 2. vydanie. Praha, C. H. Beck, the Czech Republic, 2012, s. 63.
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