The next six months are shaping up to be a busy one for the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU in the field of civil and criminal justice. It intends to complete several files on the table, while remaining realistic about what it will be able to accomplish by the end of its mandate.
In the field of criminal justice, the electronic evidence package is the legislative dossier that will dominate the Romanian Presidency’s agenda (see EUROPE 12003).
As a reminder, at the beginning of December the Council adopted its position on the Regulation introducing European orders for the production and storage of electronic evidence (see EUROPE 12155). However, no trilogue negotiations should take place under its presidency, as the matter is currently blocked in the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12147).
However, on a technical level, Bucharest intends to continue work on the certificates contained in the appendix to the Regulation – a point that had not really been addressed under the Austrian Presidency.
Above all, it aims to adopt a general approach by June on the other part of the package, namely the directive requiring service providers to appoint a legal representative within the EU who would be responsible for receiving and complying with injunctions.
Discussions on this text will start on Friday in the working group. The Presidency is rather confident and the discussions should run “smoothly”, according to a European diplomat.
However, there is no consensus on two articles of the directive at the moment, he explained. These include the obligation of service providers to appoint a legal representative and the sanctions that may be imposed on service providers who have not appointed legal representatives.
Another major issue is the institutionalisation and inauguration in 2020 of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (see EUROPE 11882).
By the end of March, the co-legislators will have to reach a common agreement on the appointment of the head of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. At the beginning of February they should receive a list of 3 to 5 candidates pre-selected by the selection committee (see EUROPE 12093). This will be followed by hearings organised in both institutions around the third week of February.
In the field of family law, Bucharest also hopes to close the recasting of the ‘Brussels IIa’ Regulation on judgements in matrimonial matters, parental responsibility and international child abduction (see EUROPE 11584).
As a reminder, the Council adopted its position in December on the main elements of the reform (see EUROPE 12155), but the European Parliament was consulted once again on the text (see EUROPE 12162). According to another European diplomat, the European Parliament could make rapid progress on this issue, since the text adopted by the Council includes several of its suggestions.
On the other hand, the Presidency is much less optimistic about the proposal for a regulation on the law applicable to the enforceability of assignments of receivables, presented in March 2018 (see EUROPE 11979). While it maintains the objective of adopting a general approach as its objective, it is also aware that its possible effect on financial markets is a sensitive issue.
It will also work on the proposal for a Regulation on the service of judicial and extra-judicial documents and on the Regulation on the cooperation between the courts of the Member States regarding the collection of evidence in civil matters.
Progress on these two issues is very slow and “all options remain open,” the same source said – at a minimum, a progress report and, at best, a general approach by June. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)