On Tuesday 24 June, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) adopted (19 in favour and 4 against) the draft report by Jana Toom (Renew Europe, Estonian) on the proposal for a regulation on better protection for adults who are vulnerable and therefore in need of assistance in cross-border situations (see EUROPE 13191/15).
The increase in mobility within the European Union combined with the ageing of the population means that these situations are becoming more and more frequent, and must be the subject of judicial cooperation in civil matters.
The report that will be submitted to the entire European Parliament during the July session differs from the Commission’s initial proposal in that it gives a broader definition of the persons concerned, including adults in need of support or safeguards in the exercise of their legal capacity, and not just those who “are not in a position to protect their interests”.
MEPs have decided to empower the vulnerable people concerned. Assisted decision-making is therefore favoured over substitute decision-making, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
The procedural guarantees have also been increased, with the obligation to periodically review the measures taken, legal assistance, accessible means of communication such as videoconferencing - already proposed by the Commission - as well as multilingual information tools and the participation of the adults concerned in all the procedures that concern them, also at a distance.
The text also provides for the creation of specialised liaison judges, one-stop shop information centres and the controlled use of artificial intelligence tools to improve access to justice, in particular through multilingual services or the automated monitoring of cross-border cases.
Above all, the text introduces a European Certificate of Support and Representation, whereas the Commission only mentioned “ representation”, in order to deal with situations where there is legal capacity but support is necessary. This certificate will be free of charge and available in formats accessible to disabled people. Its use will be optional and will not prevent the use of other recognised national documents.
On 12 June, the Member States’ justice ministers adopted a partial general approach to this text (see EUROPE 13658/1).
To see the draft report: https://aeur.eu/f/hjc (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)