Alternatively, or additionally, there are procedures whereby candidates or parties are obliged to pay a non-refundable fee (for instance parliamentary candidates in the Czech Republic) or a deposit which is only refunded if the respective candidate or party wins a minimum percentage of the vote (e.g. Estonia). According to the Code of Good Practices in Electoral Matters such procedures even appear to be more effective than collecting signatures. In fact, fees and deposit systems avoid several disadvantages of signature systems (i.e. the time-consuming process of signature collection, the non-secrecy of signatures and the need to check them). Furthermore, they are both easier and safer to handle in times of restrictions of movements, for instance, during a pandemic. However, there is one important drawback of fees and deposit systems. Compared to signature procedures, they make the qualification to stand for elections dependent on monetary resources, rather than on citizens’ support. Where fee or deposit requirements are applied, thus, the amount of money and the number of votes needed for reimbursement should not be excessive (CDL-AD(2003)023rev2-cor, Expl. Report para 9). In general, however, the existing provisions in Europe seem reasonable.