On Wednesday 13 February, MEPs adopted by 563 votes to 27, with 9 abstentions, the draft report drawn up by Sergio Gaetano Cofferati (S&D, Italy) on the electronic service of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (see EUROPE 12031).
The key element of the Commission's proposal was to make it mandatory for courts to exchange documents electronically across borders by a “decentralised computer system composed of national computer systems interconnected by a secure and reliable communication infrastructure”. However, the proposal provided for the possibility of reverting to other traditional means of communication in the event of an “unforeseen and exceptional disruption” of the computer system.
In its final text – adopted without modification compared to the vote in the parliamentary committee – the European Parliament considers that this decentralised IT system should be based on the standardised cross-border information exchange platform e-Codex and managed by the EU agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems, euLISA.
MEPs also stressed the preservation of procedural rights and the protection of privacy and personal data. In particular, they considered that the addressee should explicitly accept the method of service by electronic means and that, in such a case, an automatic acknowledgement of receipt should be immediately sent to the issuing entity by the computer system.
Parliament has also introduced several deadlines in the text for the transmission of documents and communication between the various entities involved. For example, it is provided that, where the address of the addressee of the judicial or extrajudicial document in another Member State is not known, Member States shall provide assistance, without undue delay and in any event within 10 working days.
In the Council, progress on this text is very slow. The mandatory use of digital tools poses difficulties for Member States, not only in terms of the necessary infrastructure, but also in terms of communication security.
For the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, all options therefore remain open, namely, at a minimum, a progress report and the adoption of a general approach by June, ideally. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)