Following a Complaint by Fairness In Fees Limited to the EC, the Republic of Cyprus enacted amendments to the Advocates’ Law which previously empowered the Cyprus Bar Association “to fix lawyers fees for out-of-court cases”. Amendments to the Advocates Law were published in the Official Journal of the Republic of Cyprus on 25th July 2018.
The Cyprus Bar Association also abrogated the Minimum Fees Regulations in their entirety on 19th June 2018. This decision was published in the Official Journal of the Republic of Cyprus on 29th June 2018.
In its public announcement, the EC said that it welcomed the decision of the Cyprus Bar Association to abrogate this minimum fee scale after the Commission raised concerns that these rules were not compatible with Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.
Counsel is Mr Robert O’Donoghue KC of Brick Court Chambers. Counsel’s view in his Legal Opinion, is that minimum fee practices are in clear breach of the price fixing and cartel provisions of Article 101 of the European Treaty and are therefore unlawful in European law. They create a serious distortion of competition in the legal market by setting a ‘floor’. Minimum fees set by professional regulators in Europe have been found to violate Article 101(1) by the Commission, the European Court of Justice and national competition authorities. Fairness In Fees Limited also has legal Opinion from a highly respectable legal firm in Cyprus which supports Counsel’s view.
Counsel has now produced an updated Legal Opinion in June 2024. The Opinion analyses the legality of the Minimum Fees Regulations under EU law, the rights granted to individuals arising out of a breach of Article 101 TFEU and the obligations of the Cypriot courts and the Cyprus Commission for the Protection of Competition arising from a breach of Article 101 TFEU.
Counsel’s view is that the legal position under EU law is very clear. Minimum fees were anti-competitive because they fixed minimum prices. They are therefore automatically null and void. Anyone who paid more under the minimum fee regulations, than they would have done if those rules were absent, is entitled to damages. That right to damages also emanates from EU law.
A test case in the Cyprus courts was due to be heard in February 2026. The case has now been adjourned and a new date will be set by the Court shortly. Counsel will testify as an expert witness on EU Competition law.