Point of law: the federal law which entered into force on 1 November 2010 has limited the right to file to a court an application regarding the recovery of litigation costs by 6 month term from the moment of the completion of consideration of the case. Does this rule have a retroactive force and whether it may apply to cases whose consideration has been finished before that date?

Alternative approaches: 1) the term in question should apply to all applications filed after 01.11.2010, regardless of when the court decision in question had been rendered, although it is possible to make a motion to toll the term elapsed, with the reference to the uncertainty of legal rules as a ground for the lapse; or 2) the term in question should commence on 02.11.2010; or 3) application as to the recovery of litigation costs ought to be filed within 3 month term upon which the law had to enter into force; or 4) since the recovery of litigation costs is essentially of a substantive law institution, not a procedural one, in the given circumstances the general 3 year period of limitation should apply.

Ratio decidendi: in its Judgment the Presidium made a synthesis of the alternatives 1, 2, and 4 above. The judges pointed out that applications on recovery of litigation costs should have been brought within 6 month term commencing on 2 November 2010; all the same, it is possible to bring a motion to toll the term elapsed, and the final judicial decisions in the cases which gave rise to the applications on recovery of litigation expenses must remain within the general 3 year period of limitations.

Practical consequences: the Judgment says that prior court decisions in analogous cases if inconsistent with this interpretation may be reversed in the procedure and within the limits envisaged by Art 311 of the Commercial Procedure Code.