Abstract

The article discusses changes relating to bailiff costs resulting from the Act of 9 March 2023 amending the Code of Civil Procedure and certain other acts. The author points out that the discussed amendment to the Act on bailiff costs is so far the most extensive one, and at the same time the first changing the form of the institutions provided for in the above-mentioned Act. For this reason, the author sees the need to look at the amendment from a broader perspective and to answer the questions whether the solutions introduced by the amendment may be considered necessary and optimal and what is their added value. The analysis leads to the conclusion that in addition to correctly identified problems justifying the real need for legislator’s intervention (incorrect solutions relating to the fee for an application for the enforcement of an interim order, defective mechanisms for the recovery by the State Treasury of sums paid for a party exempt from bailiff costs maladapted to the specifics of other than enforcement proceedings and bailiff service) the amendment introduces unnecessary or even destructive changes (introduction of an additional fee for determining the current address by the bailiff based on information held ex officio in the course of service of a court document, collection of a 10% enforcement fee on sums secured for maintenance payments). The author points out that the problems correctly identified by the legislator have been solved in the amendment only partially.