Foreign Language In Litigation with a Special Review of Translation Costs

Svaka stranka ima pravo na pravično suđenje. Da bi se to pravo ostvarilo, stranka mora imati mogućnost komunikacije sa sudom. Međutim, u prekograničnim građanskim sporovima, kada pri upotrebi službenog jezika na sudu jednoj od stranaka taj jezik nije poznat, mogu nastati problemi u komunikaciji. U radu se zauzima stav da, iako primarno zakonodavstvo Europske unije naglašava potrebu poštovanja i očuvanja kulturne, jezične i nacionalne različitosti u Europi, još uvijek se u prekograničnim sporovima podcjenjuju jezične barijere te se zbog toga ne pruža dovoljno jamstva pravu stranke na raspravljanje na jeziku koji razumije. Na području Republike Hrvatske može se zaključiti da su ispunjena stranačka jamstva uporabe vlastitoga jezika, međutim, strancima će se ponekad dogoditi da, iako su uspjeli u parnici, veliki troškovi prevođenja, ako je riječ o tužitelju, umanje ili čak premaše ostvarenu naknadu, odnosno, ako je riječ o tuženiku, neopravdano nanesu novčani gubitak.Each party in judicial proceedings has the right to a fair trial. In order to achieve this right, the party must have the ability to communicate with the court. However, in cross-border civil litigations, the use of official language in the court may cause some problems in communication, when that language is unknown to the party. The paper takes a stand that, although primary European legislation emphasized the need to respect and maintain cultural, linguistic, and national diversity and pluralism in Europe, the language barrieres in cross-border disputes are still underestimated and because of that there are not enough guarantees to provide the right of the parties to be heard in a language they could understand. In the Republic of Croatia the conclusion could be drawn that guarantee of the parties right to use their own language is fulfilled. However, althogh foreigneirs sometimes win the lawsuit in the aspect of the plaintiff it could happen that the high costs of translation reduce or even exceed acomplished compensation. Moreover, if they win the lawsuit in the aspect of the defendant it could result that the translation costs unjustifiably cause their financial loss