Out-Law News 2 min. read
25 Jun 2009, 3:16 pm
The ECJ, Europe's highest court, said that an EU Regulation created to help cross-border legal disputes to proceed smoothly does apply to 'extrajudicial' documents, meaning documents which do not directly relate to a court case.
The European Parliament and Council passed a Regulation in 2007 on the service of documents in the EU in civil and commercial cases. It aimed to speed up and simplify cross-border legal action and involved the appointment of bodies in each country to act as intermediaries in the service of documents.
"Efficiency and speed in judicial procedures in civil matters means that the transmission of judicial and extrajudicial documents is to be made direct and by rapid means between local bodies designated by the Member States," said a previous version of the rules, from 2000.
Spanish company Roda Golf sent letters to 16 people in the UK and Ireland terminating a contracts for property sales that it had with them. It created the documents in the presence of a notary and wanted to send them through the Spanish authority designated under the Regulations, which was a court clerk.
The clerk refused to send on the documents, claiming that because there was no court case involved it did not fall within the scope of the Regulations.
Roda Golf appealed and the Spanish court handling the case asked the ECJ whether the Regulations extend to situations where there is no court case between the two parties.
The ECJ said that they do. It said that the aim of the Regulations and the EU law they were based on was to make taking legal action easier.
"Those measures, which fall within the area of judicial cooperation in civil matters having cross-border implications, are intended … to improve and simplify the system for cross-border service of judicial and extrajudicial documents in so far as necessary for the proper functioning of the internal market," it said in its ruling. "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."
"[EU law and the Regulation] thus intend to establish a system for intra-Community service the purpose of which is the proper functioning of the internal market," it said.
The Court said that the intended aim was best met by not limiting the structures set out by the Regulation just to court cases.
"Taking account of that purpose, the judicial cooperation referred to by that article and the regulation cannot be limited to legal proceedings alone," it said. "That cooperation may manifest itself both in the context of and in the absence of legal proceedings if that cooperation has cross-border implications and is necessary for the proper functioning of the internal market.
Some EU governments submitted opinions to the Court, saying that if documents not related to court cases could be sent via the courts systems under the Regulation, then court systems would be overwhelmed. The ECJ said that that need not be the case.
"It must be stated that the obligations with regard to service which derive from [the Regulation] are not necessarily the responsibility of the national courts. The designation of the transmitting agencies and the receiving agencies which, under Article 2(1) and (2) of that regulation may be ‘public officers, authorities or other persons’ is a matter for the Member States," the ruling said. "Accordingly, the latter are free to designate as transmitting or receiving agencies for the purpose of serving judicial and extrajudicial documents bodies other than the national courts."
The Court also said that the Regulation allowed for the service of documents by post.
