A guide to the UPC and the UP - Flipbook - Page 416
amount received and the judge draw adverse inferences from the fact. On the other hand, if the
witness is an employee of the party to the proceedings, the witness is likely to continue to
receive their normal wage, despite dedicating potentially significant periods of time to
preparing a statement.
20-63 The provision in the Code of Conduct concerning compensation may provide further guidance
as it applies equally to witnesses and party experts. 136 This states that it is allowable for a
representative to arrange for reasonable compensation for the time spent to prepare and
present evidence of witnesses. Note that the provision requiring the representative to inform
the Court about the extent of that compensation upon the request of the Court or reasonable
request of a party, applies equally to the compensation of witnesses. 137
Costs of Interpreters and Translators
20-64 The compensation for costs of interpreters and translators are stated to be those rates that
are customary in the country of the division in question depending on their training and
professional experience. 138 If a party wishes to engage its own interpreter for an oral hearing,
it can do so, provided it bears the cost. 139
20-65 The RoP mentions one specific instance where the costs of translations can be requested to be
taken into account when the Court is fixing the amount of recoverable costs. This is where the
appellant has had to translate the file for the purposes of bringing an action before the Court of
Appeal where the language of the proceedings is not the same as that used at first instance. 140
Costs of Experiments
20-66 In accordance with r.201(4) RoP, the party requesting the experiments will initially bear the
costs of the experiment, unless otherwise ordered by the Court. Consistent with the approach
to other Court expert costs, the costs of the experiment (which will presumably include the cost
of the expert carrying out the experiment) will fall within the scope of the cost decision
following the decision on the merits. 141
Costs of Technical Advisers
20-67 The CJEU specifically addressed the issue of technical advisors in their decision in United Video
Properties v Telenet: 142
“Thus, the costs of research and identification incurred in the context of actions covering, inter
alia, a general observation of the market, carried out by a technical adviser, and the detection
by the latter of possible infringements of intellectual property law, attributable to unknown
infringers at that stage, do not appear to show … a close direct link [with the judicial procedure].
On the other hand, to the extent that the services, regardless of their nature, of a technical
adviser are essential in order for a legal action to be usefully brought seeking, in a specific case,
to have such a right upheld, the costs linked to the assistance of that adviser fall within ‘other
expenses’ that must, pursuant to Article 14 [Enforcement Directive], be borne by the
unsuccessful party.”
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
r.3(3) Code of Conduct for Representatives – see chapter 23 (Legal Representation, Privilege and Code of Conduct).
See paragraph 20-61 for further details.
r.155 RoP.
r.109(5) RoP.
r.232(3) RoP.
r.150(1) RoP. See paragraphs 20-53 to 20-56.
(C-57/15), at [39].
© Bird & Bird LLP | May 2023
A Guide to the UPC and the UP 406
