Extension of first-instance judicial fee exemption to appellate proceedings under Government Emergency Ordinance No. 80/2013

The High Court of Cassation and Justice, acting through the Panel for Settling Legal Questions, upheld the lower court's reference and ruled that under Article 28 of Government Emergency Ordinance No. 80/2013, the exemption from paying court fees in appellate proceedings is strictly limited to the claimant who was already exempted from stamp duty in the first instance, leaving the initial procedural posture unchanged as this was a binding interpretive decision. The dispute arose from a reference question in a civil case concerning whether a party's fee exemption status in the trial court automatically extended to the appellate level, specifically challenging the scope of judicial fee exemptions for subsequent instances. The decisive legal basis is the restrictive interpretation of Article 28 of Government Emergency Ordinance No. 80/2013, which the Court determined does not confer a blanket right to fee exemptions on appeals unless the specific condition of prior first-instance exemption is met.