KIEV, July 30 – President Viktor Yanukovych has signed a law on court fees.

Andriy Portnov, head of the chief department for the judicial system at Presidential Administration said that there is no cause-effect relation between the reduction in court fees and fears of journalists that this could affect the issue of a ruling by court on the possible recuperation of non-pecuniary damages against the mass media.

"The law does not change the procedure for proving the size of non-pecuniary damage, so we forecast that the number of claims for the recuperation of non-pecuniary damages against journalists will not grow, as this concerns different subjects of legislative control," Portnov said.

The report says that the law does not threaten the mass media, as the guarantees of their operation established in the Constitution and Ukrainian laws, in particular, in a recently passed law on access to public information, are not restricted.