Brussels, 25/02/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 25 February for the first time, Commissioner for Justice and Fundamental Rights Viviane Reding presented the ministers and representatives of the EU27 with responsibility for justice with her proposed revision of the Brussels 1 regulation, on legal competence in civilian and commercial matters. These recommendations were made in December 2010, but the member states have not yet held a specific debate on the subject. They will, however, begin discussions in the Council working group.
First of all, Reding laid emphasis on the removal, for businesses, particularly SMEs, of costs of the recognition of commercial decisions returned by a court of a member state. Currently, in order to enforce a judgement, for example a decision requiring a French company to pay a certain amount to a Polish company, the latter has to pay certain costs in order to enforce the decision in France. This procedure, known as an exequatur procedure, remains a real obstacle to the free movement of justice decisions and the constitution of the European space of justice, said Reding on Friday, adding that according to the Commission's studies, “40% of businesses would be prepared to go international if these procedures were amended”. Reding also pointed out that this recognition procedure is very slow, taking up to a year. By getting rid of the exequatur, decisions returned would be automatically recognised and applicable.
Commissioner Reding also stressed the other aspects of the revision of Brussels 1, and on tightening up legal proceedings for European businesses active outside the EU. This protection also needs to be stepped up because at the moment, the current regulation applies only if the defendant is domiciled within the EU and the diversity of national laws means that the businesses of the member states dealing with partners from third countries have unequal access to justice. In her revision of Brussels 1, Reding also wishes to stamp out certain abusive practices by European companies, such as those which try to delay the settlement of a dispute by the appointed jurisdiction by bringing the matter before a non-competent court. She also wishes to tighten up the enforcement of arbitration agreements, which companies also sometimes manage to circumvent. On all of these issues, the commissioner said that she was confident and believes that the EU27 will support her reforms.
Reding told ministers that she did not intend to tackle certain areas, such as getting rid of the exequatur procedure for decisions on defamation of character and collective actions. On the former, the commission is aware “of extreme differences of opinion between the member states” and on the latter, it would not be “wise to make proposals” when collective actions do not yet exist at European level. The Commission launched a consultation on this subject in January this year. (S.P./transl.fl)