Published on 2 February 2026
 
FOURTH SECTION
Application no. 53153/21
LACUL TEI OFFICES S.A.
against Romania
lodged on 12 October 2021
communicated on 13 January 2026
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns the alleged breach of the applicant company’s right of property in the context of a decision of the domestic courts not to reimburse a court fee imposed for a claim that was dismissed as inadmissible.
On 17 January 2019 the applicant company lodged a civil action against a third party, requesting the determination of the property quotas of each party to the proceedings and consequently the judicial partition (partaj judiciar) of a real estate into exclusive ownership plots of land.
The court ordered the applicant company to pay court fees of 100 Romanian lei (RON) (the equivalent of 20 euros (EUR)) for the claim to determine the corresponding property quotas and RON 3,120,791 (the equivalent of EUR 625,000) for the subsequent claim to divide the property.
The applicant company lodged a request to have the court fees reconsidered (cerere de reexaminare a taxei judiciare de timbru), but it was dismissed as unfounded by a final interlocutory decision of 5 April 2018.
By a decision of 31 July 2018, final on 10 October 2019, the Bucharest District Court dismissed the partition claim as inadmissible after concluding that the applicant company was the exclusive owner of the real estate at stake.
On 15 November 2019 the applicant company sought reimbursement of RON 3,120,791(EUR 625,000) set as court fee for the judicial partition claim.
By a final decision of 2 March 2021 (delivered on 13 April 2021), the Bucharest County Court dismissed the applicant company’s reimbursement request as unfounded on the ground that the domestic law did not provide for the right to reimbursement of the stamp duty in this situation.
Under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention the applicant company complains of an alleged breach of its right of property, arguing that the decision not to reimburse the stamp duty imposed for a claim that was not examined by the courts upsets the fair balance which must be struck between the general interest of the community and the fundamental rights of the individual.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1.  Has there been an interference with the applicant company’s right of property, within the meaning of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention? If so, was the interference justified under the said provision (see Perdigão v. Portugal [GC], no. 24768/06, §§ 61 et seq., 16 November 2010)?
 
2.  The Government are invited to submit a copy of the file concerning the re-examination of the court fee that ended with the final interlocutory decision of 5 April 2018.