Last year, at the beginning of July, we wrote that, as every year, in year 2019 the judicial holidays will begin on 15 July and last until 15 August. The COVID-19 epidemic has left consequences in this area as well, so this year’s judicial holidays are (only) half as long.
The new Law on Intervention Measures for Mitigation and Elimination of the Consequences of the COVID-19 Epidemic (ZIUOOPE), which entered into force on 31 May 2020, stipulates that in year 2020 courts will hold hearings and decide only in urgent cases from 1 August 2020 to 15 August 2020. Judicial holidays therefore last only two weeks this year under ZIUOOPE.
During the judicial holidays, it is considered that there are no procedural deadlines, nor are any court documents served. If the court document has been served, the deadline shall begin to run on the first day following the end of the judicial holidays. Procedural deadlines are deadlines given by the procedural law for performing certain procedural actions in the procedure. Such a deadline is, for example, the deadline for payment of the court fee.
Judicial holidays, however, do not apply to material deadlines, nor do they suspend them. Material deadlines are deadlines for exercising material rights granted to entitled person by a material law. The material deadlines are, for example, a deadline for filing the lawsuit arising from the disturbance of property and deadlines for protection of employees’ rights arising from employment relationship.
It should be emphasized that judicial holidays refer exclusively to court documents and thus do not affect service according to the rules of administrative procedure or any other non-judicial documents.
For a peaceful holiday, we advise you to consult a legal expert in case of doubt about the running of a certain deadline.
