Brussels, 12/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling made on Wednesday 11 November, the Court of Justice of the European Union defined, for the first time, the concept of extrajudicial documents of which the formal transmission to addressees residing in another member state is necessary.
The competent national authorities must transmit such documents automatically where the documents satisfy the conditions laid down by EU law.
According to EU Regulation 1393/2007 the proper functioning of the internal market entails the need to improve and expedite the transmission of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters for service between the member states. Efficiency and speed in judicial procedures therefore require that those documents be transmitted (served) directly and by rapid means between the bodies designated by the member states.
In the main case, a Spanish court wanted to know whether a judicial official (deemed the competent judicial officer under the regulation) was correct to refuse the Spanish company notifying by the intermediary of a competent German authority, a letter of demand addressed to a company in Germany. The notary stated that it was not possible to consider that every private document constitutes an “extrajudicial document” of which “service” could be effected within the meaning of the regulation.
The essential question therefore raised in this case (C-223/14), therefore involved what could be considered an “extrajudicial document” under the terms of the regulation or an exclusively private document irrespective of the fact that it has not been issued by a public authority or nonjudicial ministerial officer.
In its decision, the court decided that the concept of an extrajudicial document encompasses not only documents drawn up or certified by a public authority or official but also private documents of which the formal transmission to an addressee residing in another member state is necessary for the purposes of exercising, proving or safeguarding a right or a claim in civil or commercial law. The Court notes that the transmission of such documents between the member states contributes to reinforcing the proper functioning of the internal market.
Another question was whether private documents could benefit from this transmission procedure when notification has already been carried out by way of another nonjudicial public authority such as, for example, a notary. The Court replied in the affirmative.
Finally, the European judges were also asked to decide whether transmission procedure is automatic or whether it should take into account certain factors, such as cross-border considerations. The Court said that where the conditions for the application of the regulation are satisfied, it is not necessary to ascertain, on a case-by-case basis, whether the service of an extrajudicial document has cross-border implications and is necessary for the proper functioning of the internal market. In that case, the competent national authorities must transmit the relevant documents automatically. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)