Amendments to Macedonian Law on Civil Court Procedure in Force as of September 9

The Macedonian Law on Civil Court Procedure has undergone certain changes, which will become effective on September 9, 2011. A few amendments affect intellectual property right owners potentially involved in civil court procedures in Macedonia.

One of the changes concerns the information that the plaintiff must provide when filing the lawsuit. Before the amendments, the plaintiff had to provide only the name, address and state of incorporation. Once the amendments enter into force, the company registration number or value added tax (VAT) identification number would also need to be supplied.

The amended law also enables the parties in a lawsuit to present their own expert evidence before the court. So far only the court was entitled to order expert evidence. The Ministry of Justice will publish an official list of expert witnesses soon.

There is a change in the legal remedies as well. Up until now, there were no limitations for filing an appeal before the Supreme Court of the Republic of Macedonia. Once the amendments enter into force, an appeal before the Supreme Court of the Republic of Macedonia can be filed only for intellectual property cases where money claims exceed approximately EUR 16,000 (USD 23,000).

For more information, please contact Zivka Kostovska-Stojkovska.

Source: PETOŠEVIĆ