Welcome to the European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters.

It contains a large quantity of information about the Member States, Community law, European law and various aspects of civil and commercial law.

For each of these topics, listed on the left of each page, you can find the following information:

	Clicking on the topic takes you to the general information page for that topic.
	Clicking on the European flag takes you to a Community law page, setting out in detail everything that the Union has achieved or planned in this area.
	Clicking on the flags of the Member States takes you to the national pages. There is one page for each Member State except Denmark. There you will find specific information about the national legal systems. The Network's information system will be built up gradually. The pages you want to read may not be ready yet. Wherever possible, you will find a selection of links to other sites, usually in the language or languages of the relevant country.
	Clicking on the world map takes you to an International law page, setting out in detail everything that international organisations have achieved or planned in this area.

All this information will be available in the twenty official languages of the Union. Select the language you want by clicking on the corresponding references on the languages bar (EN for English, FR for French, etc.).

A little background.

The Heads of State or Government wished the European Commission to take a number of initiatives to improve access to justice for individuals and firms in Europe, one of which was the establishment of a network of national authorities with responsibility for civil and commercial law.

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In September 2000, the Commission presented a proposal for a decision establishing the network which the Council then adopted in May 2001.

The network consists of representatives of the Member States' judicial and administrative authorities and meets several times each year to exchange information and experience and boost cooperation between the Member States as regards civil and commercial law.

The main objective is to make life easier for people facing litigation of whatever kind where there is a transnational element - i.e. where it involves more than one Member State.

The European Union currently has a wide variety of national legal systems, and this diversity often creates problems when litigation transcends national borders.

Individuals and firms, and even more so the legal professions, will find it very useful to have access to knowledge about the various national systems of civil and commercial law and the legislative instruments of the European Union and other international organisations including the United Nations, the Hague Conference and the Council of Europe.

The Council Decision establishing the network consequently provided for the establishment of the website and determined the main points of its operation. The main purpose of the network's website is to outline various national systems of civil and commercial law.

It does not set out to answer questions in practical matters or to provide legal advice about a specific situation.

Reference document

• Council Decision of 28 May 2001 establishing a European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters.
• Report from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee on the application of Council Decision 2001/470/EC establishing a European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters (COM/2006/203) and annexes (SEC/2006/579) (PDF 382 KB)
• Final Report: Evaluation of the Functioning of the European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters, submitted by The European Evaluation Consortium (TEEC) (PDF 451 KB)

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