Free Process – Iceland Ása Ólafsdóttir Chairman of the Legal Aid Committee

Ása Ólafsdóttir Legal Foundation Act 91/1991 on Civil Procedure –Art 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 Ása Ólafsdóttir

Legal Aid On the finances: –The applicant‘s annual income should not exceed IKR (EUR ) –If the applicant is married, the annual income of the family should not exceed IKR (EUR ) –An allowance of IKR (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 – 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 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