In order to exercise a person's right to protect his interests, a court may by law delay or defer payment of a court fee, reduce its amount or release from payment of it (Article 136 of the Civil Procedure Code of Ukraine). The reason for this is the unsatisfactory property status of the party.

In case 761/12145/17, which the Supreme Court  ruledon 02.08.2019, the person filed a cassation appeal, which was abandoned by the decision of the CCC due to non-payment of court fees.

Remedying the deficiencies, the person filed an application for exemption from payment of the court fee, with the filing of the SFS certificate of absence of income from the parties for the past year and the first quarter of the current year.

And such a motion was upheld by the Supreme Court. The Court recalled that the right of access to a court enshrined in Article 6 § 1 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is not absolute: it may be subject to permissible restrictions, since it requires state regulation by its very nature. States Parties enjoy some discretion in this matter. However, the court must decide at last instance whether the Convention is complied with; he must ensure that the right of access to a court is not restricted in such a way or to such an extent that the very substance of the right will be nullified. In addition, such a restriction would not be in line with Article 6 §1 unless it pursues a legitimate aim and there is no reasonable proportionality between the means used and the aim pursued.

It should be noted, in accordance with Article 8, paragraph 1, part 1 of the Law of Ukraine “On Judicial Fee”, the court may by its decision, at the request of a party, defer payment of the court fee for a definite term, but not longer than before the court decision in the case, if the amount of the court fee exceeds 5 percent of the amount of the annual income of the plaintiff - an individual for the previous calendar year.

At the same time, part two of this article provides that the court may reduce the amount of the court fee or release from payment of it on the basis set out in part one of this article.

Considering the provisions of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights, in particular the judgment of 19 June 2001 in the case of Creuse v. Poland, the payment of legal costs should not impede access to a court. access in such a way and to the extent that it harms the very essence of this right and must pursue a legitimate aim. Therefore, the court had every reason to satisfy the above request.