Analiza odredaba zakona o besplatnoj pravnoj pomoći Republike Srbije koje uređuju besplatnu pravnu pomoć u prekograničnom sporu de lege lata i de lege ferenda

Abstract

The right to legal aid in cross-border disputes is a procedural right of the person who has the citizenship, domicile or habitual residence on the territory of a state which provides for exercing the right to legal aid in disputes conducted before the competent authority of another state. In the Republic of Serbia, the right to free legal aid in cross-border disputes is regulated by the Free Legal Aid Act, which regulates the exercise of the right to free legal aid in the territory of European Union. In particular, it provides the definition of a cross-border dispute, the types of free legal aid, the conditions that the applicant is required to fulfill in order to be granted the status of a beneficiary, the procedure when the dispute with an international element is conducted before the court in the territory of Serbia or an EU Member State, and the types of costs covered by free legal aid. In order to exercise the right to free legal aid in a dispute which is conducted before the court of another EU Member State, the applicant who has domicile or habitual residence in the territory of an EU Member State may submit the free legal aid application in two ways: a) directly to the receiving authority of the state in which dispute is conducted, or b) indirectly via the transmitting authority of the state in which the applicant has domicile or habitual residence. In the Republic of Serbia, the transmitting and the receiving authority is the Ministry of Justice. When the cross-border dispute is conducted before the competent court in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Justice is in charge of deceding about the applicant's legal aid application.