Discussie over betere bescherming burgers tijdens conferentie in Vilnius (en)
During the international conference in Vilnius held on 12-13 September prominent lawyers theoreticians and practitioners of the European Union (EU) countries discussed how EU citizens could wider use the European Small Claims Procedure, which is applied in cross-border civil and commercial cases, and how to simplify this procedure and make it more efficient.
The Ministry of Justice together with the European Commission (EC) and with the representatives of the Academy of European Law (ERA), organized an international conference on the civil law "European Small Claims Procedure - how civil law instruments serve the interests of the EU citizens" on 12-13 September in Vilnius.
The year 2013 is the European Year of Citizens. Therefore, it is very important to guarantee prompt and efficient protection of the rights for the European Union citizens. These issues are particularly relevant nowadays, when we live in the European area without borders.
"It would seem that European citizens are provided with all opportunities to seek implementation of their rights. However, the question arises, whether it is financially beneficial to defend the rights in cross-border cases, especially when it is necessary to recover a small amount of money. Therefore, I am pleased that now we can choose from a variety of European Union legal instruments and take advantage of the procedure satisfying our needs best"- said Justice Minister Juozas Bernatonis.
Currently, the European Small Claims Procedure is applied in cross-border civil and commercial cases, if the claim amount, excluding interest, costs and expenses, does not exceed 2 000 Euros (about 6 905 Litas) at a time when the competent court receives a claim form. The Regulation of the European Parliament (EP i) and the Council provides for basic procedural actions of the procedure, and for solving non-regulated issues, the Member State, in which the European Small Claims Procedure is performed, applies its law. The claimant starts the European Small Claims Procedure by completing a standard application form and lodging it with the court of the relevant Member State where the procedure is started directly, by post or other reasonable means of communication.
During the conference experts of EU Member States shared experience regarding application of European Small Claims Procedure, discussed about its development possibilities and directions seeking that this procedure would better meet the interests of EU citizens. Prof. Burkhard HessMax from Max Planck Institute for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law, Luxembourg, drew attention to the fact that harmonization performed in the area of the EU civil procedure is rather fragmentary and, therefore, proposed to keep in mind consistency during the harmonization process of different areas. This view was supported by Prof. Habil. Dr. Valentinas Mikelėnas from Vilnius University who stated that high standards should be applied to the EU civil procedure, and it is necessary to seek that these procedures would be more efficient than those of national legal systems.
Most experts drew attention to the need to look for ways to make the procedure less costly. For example, Prof. Dr. Xandra E. Kramer from Erasmus University, Rotterdam, stressed that sometimes a stamp-duty makes the largest part of the cost of the procedure; therefore, she considered whether it would be expedient to have a uniform stamp duty for this procedure in all Member States. Relatively short processing time and the fact that the decision made in a Member State by applying the European Small Claims Procedure is recognized and enforced in another Member State without the need for a declaration of enforceability and without any possibility of opposing its recognition were mentioned as one of the advantages of the small claims procedure.
Representatives of the EC emphasized that the having assessed experiences of Member States in applying the European Small Claims Procedure and remarks submitted by concerned parties, it is planned at the end of this year to provide regulation improvements. It is possible to expect that such changes as the increase of amount of the claim, which can be used for this procedure, and extension of the scope of its application will be provided. In the opinion of the EC, these changes could make the procedure more attractive to small and medium-sized businesses and more popular among consumers.