Abstract

The article outlines some general rules concerning the security for costs (cautio iudicatum solvi) under the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, including the relationship between that institution and the right of access to court, as well as the basic conditions for its application. Under the international civil procedure, the security for costs is a form of a safeguard for payment of the costs of civil litigation adopted in order to protect the defendant whenever the costs of the procedure adjudicated for them could not be enforced. At the same time, the security for costs means a restriction of the right of the plaintiff’s access to court, though this restriction shall be treated as admissible providing it does not completely deprive a party of the access to court. So, the application of the security for costs involves the need for proportionality. An obligation to deposit the security for costs may arise only when, on one hand, it is probable that the plaintiff’s claim would be found groundless, and, on the other, the cross border enforcement of costs could be difficult or ineffective. According to Art. 1119 of the Code of Civil Procedure the obligation to deposit the security for costs arises, on request of the defendant, only when the plaintiff is an alien in the sense that it is a non-EU entity. In the context of the enforcement procedure to be effective the location of the debtor’s property is crucial. Therefore, it seems that there is a need to introduce an additional connecting factor of the location of the plaintiff’s property sufficient to cover the costs of the proceedings. The article provides a suggestion as to how the appropriate provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure should be amended in this respect.