Free Process – IcelandÁsa Ólafsdóttir

Chairman of the Legal Aid Committee

Ása Ólafsdóttir

Legal Foundation

• Act 91/1991 on Civil Procedure – Art. 125-128

• Regulation nr. 45/2008 – Amendments made in 2010 and 2012

• Other sources of law

Legal Aid

• Who can apply? – Individuals – Not legal entities

• What does Legal Aid cover?– Cost of Civil Court Proceeding – Costs decided by judges in each case, not by

the Legal Aid Committee– Not Administrative Cases

Ása Ólafsdóttir

Legal Aid• Application Procedure

– Application to the Minister– Referral to the Legal Aid Committee– It gives the minister its opinion on each case

• The Legal Aid Committee– Three members – Appointed by the Minister, Judge´s Association

and the Bar Association– Indipendent from the Ministry

Ása Ólafsdóttir

Legal Aid

• Application Procedure– Two step procedure– The Legal Aid Committee looks into the merits

of each case and ...– It either looks into the finances of the applicant– Or to whether the outome of the case would

have great general significance or matter greatly to the applicant. This possibility was re-introduced in July 2012.

Ása Ólafsdóttir

Legal Aid

• On the finances:– The applicant‘s annual income should not

exceed IKR 2.000.000 (EUR 12.947)– If the applicant is married, the annual income of

the family should not exceed IKR 3.000.000 (EUR 19.420)

– An allowance of IKR 250.000 (EUR 1.618) is made for each child living with the applicant

– Exceptions can be made in certain cases

Ása Ólafsdóttir

Application for Legal Aid – types of cases

Ása Ólafsdóttir

Legal Aid Granted 2011-2013 – data broken up by women and men

Red: Legal Aid granted on basis of a low income

Blue: Legal Aid granted by other sources of law (not civil cases)

(“Konur“ = women)

(“Karlar“ = men)

Ása Ólafsdóttir

Legal Aid – refusals in 2011-2013

Green: Dismissal of application.

Red: Income higher than the regulation stipulates.

Blue: No reasonable prospects of success (merits)

Legal Aid

• What does legal Aid cover?– Legal fees - decided by the court– Costs of obtaining evidence, such as reports

from experts– Exception from Courts fees– No participation required from the applicant, in

order to obtain legal Aid.– Legal Aid can be restricted

Ása Ólafsdóttir

Ása Ólafsdóttir