27/10/2006 (Agence Europe) - The Committee on Legal Affairs at the EP (JURI) backed, on Tuesday in Strasbourg, the creation of a European Small Claims Procedure to speed up litigation in cross-border cases. It would concern amounts of up to €200. In adopting a report by Hans-Peter Mayer (EPP-ED), the members of the legal affairs committee agreed to come into line with the position of the last JHA Council whereby the procedure should apply only to cross-border cases, rather than be available also for claims within individual Member States as originally proposed by the Commission. MEPs also voted for the Commission and Member States to present an assessment report by 2014 to allow the regulation to be revised if necessary on matters such as the threshold, court costs and the speed of the procedure. The European Small Claims Procedure is due to enter into force in January 2009. An opt-out means it will not apply to Denmark. (bc)