S.L. 460.40 Art. 7Liability for costs and dissuasive penalty.  Cap. 12.

(1) In cases where the Court declares the proceedings as abusive against public participation, it shall proceed to condemn the plaintiff to pay the defendant all the legal costs of the cause as taxable in accordance with the Schedule A of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure or the costs provided for in any other applicable law and if the costs as claimed by the defendant exceed the costs as provided in the said schedule or other law the court may at its discretion grant additional costs as it deems appropriate provided that it does not consider the costs requested by the defendant to be excessive.

(2) Apart from the costs provided for in sub-article (1) the Court may also impose at its discretion and according to all the circumstances of the case a dissuasive penalty on the plaintiff in an amount which shall not exceed ten thousand euro (€10,000) which shall be payable to the defendant as a civil debt.

(3) Claims under sub-articles (1) and (2) may be treated in an accelerated manner where possible, taking into account all the circumstances of the case, the right to an effective remedy and the right to a fair trial.

(4) Without prejudice to the Court’s discretion under the proviso to article 4(1), the withdrawal of the case or any amendments to the initial claim by the plaintiff shall not affect the defendant’s rights to apply to the Court for the award of costs and damages under this order.