Cross-border judicial cooperation

The European Union has sought to improve judicial cooperation between Member States in order to ensure that citizens and enterprises are not prevented or discouraged from taking advantage of their rights due to the incompatibility or complexity of the judicial and administrative systems of the Member States.

One key priority for both the European Commission and Member States is to take action to improve access to justice by creating measures which simplify and help access to the courts, particularly in cross border cases.

See also: the website of the Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security of the European Commission

Small claims

On 11 July 2007, the European Parliament and the Council adopted a Regulation establishing a European Small Claims Procedure.

The aim of the Regulation is to simplify, speed up and reduce costs of litigation concerning small claims in cross-border cases by establishing a European Small Claims Procedure. This procedure will apply in civil and commercial matters where the value of a claim does not exceed €2000, and will cover pecuniary as well as non-pecuniary claims.

The Regulation also eliminates the intermediate measures necessary to enable judgments rendered under the European Small Claims procedure in one Member State to be recognised and enforced in other Member States.

The procedure will apply from 1 January 2009.

For further information, see the website of the European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters.

Member State fiches on consumer redress