# EUR-Lex - 52014DC0144 - EN

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# 52014DC0144

**COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS The EU Justice Agenda for 2020 - Strengthening Trust, Mobility and Growth within the Union /* COM/2014/0144 final */**

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1. 
Introduction

Over
the last 15 years, on the basis of the Treaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice, the EU has progressively developed a European area of justice and an EU
justice policy. Before 2009, action in these fields was marked by an
institutional set-up that differed from that for other EU policy areas. In
particular, the European Parliament and the Council were not yet on an equal
footing, while priorities were mainly set by the European Council, through the
adoption of partly very detailed five-year programmes (the Tampere, The Hague and Stockholm programmes).

Today,
the EU justice policy has become close to other EU policies, following
successive changes to the EU Treaties, in particular the entry into force of
the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009. The European Parliament and the
Council have become co-legislators in most areas of judicial cooperation in
civil and criminal matters. As of 1 December 2014, a final transitional phase
will come to an end. This will lift current limitations to the judicial control
by the European Court of Justice and to the Commission's power to launch
infringements, as the guardian of the Treaty over the area of judicial
cooperation in criminal matters. The Commission will continue to ensure the
proper implementation of EU legislation in the justice areas.

As
also the European Council's Stockholm Programme[1]
and the following Commission action plan[2]
come to term at the end of 2014, the time has come to take stock of the
progress made and identify the key challenges ahead and how to address them.

This
Communication sets out the political priorities that should be pursued in order
to make further progress towards a fully functioning common European area of
justice oriented towards trust, mobility and growth by 2020.

In
preparing this Communication, the Commission involved a wide range of
stakeholders and interested parties, in particular through the "Assises
de la Justice"[3]
conference and received a vast number of written contributions. Discussions
were also carried out in the European Parliament[4],
the Council[5]
and the Committee of Regions[6].

The
Commission's orientations relating specifically to judicial cooperation in
civil and criminal matters are intended to contribute to the strategic
guidelines to be defined by the European Council in accordance with Article 68
of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU); and to the
strategic choices which the European Parliament will want to give to the
further development of the European area of justice.

2. 
Progress to date: the basis of the European Area
of Justice

The EU has taken action to establish the
basis of "an area of freedom, security and justice without internal
frontiers". Since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty and as a result of close cooperation with
the European Parliament and with the Council, substantial progress has been
made towards a better functioning common European area of justice.

Enhancing
mutual trust

EU justice policy has sought to develop a
European area of justice based on mutual recognition and mutual trust by
building bridges between the different justice systems of the Member States.
This has required proper legal safeguards to be built in, to make sure that the
bridges built between Member States' legal systems are structurally sound. In
the area of criminal justice, mutual trust between Member States has been
strengthened by progressively establishing, throughout the EU, a set of fair
trial rights by means of common, EU-wide, minimum standards to protect persons
suspected or accused of a crime[7]. The standing of victims throughout the
criminal procedure has also been improved by providing minimum rights, support,
advice and protection for victims and their close relatives.

Justice for Growth: contributing to
economic growth

Over the past years, notably under the
impression of the financial and sovereign debt crisis and in line with Europe
2020 strategy, EU Justice policy has become also a support for economic
recovery, growth and structural reforms.[8]
The EU has taken action to progressively build the trust necessary for
businesses and consumers to enjoy a single market that truly works like a
domestic market. Red tape and costs have been cut: a judgement given in one Member State can now be recognised and enforced in another Member State without intermediary
procedures (the formality of ‘exequatur’[9]
has been progressively removed in both civil and commercial proceedings). In
the field of data protection, a new pan-European regulation is currently the
subject of advanced negotiations between the European Parliament and the
Council that will replace the existing 28 national laws that regulate the
protection of personal data by a single set of rules. The Consumer Rights
Directive, which will be fully effective across all 28 EU Member States in June
2014, will increase consumer protection, while businesses will benefit from a
single set of core rules, cutting compliance costs substantially for EU wide
traders. As a first step towards an EU "rescue and recovery" culture
to help companies and individuals in financial difficulties, the existing
European rules on cross-border insolvency are being amended.

Improving the independence, quality and
efficiency of national justice systems is part of the economic adjustment
programmes and of the European Semester. The EU Justice Scoreboard is assisting
  Member States and the EU institutions by providing objective, reliable and
comparable data on the effectiveness of the national justice systems.

The EU institutions also took action to
better protect the financial interests of the EU and taxpayer's money against
fraud. This work included in particular the Commission's proposal to establish
a European Public Prosecutor's Office, which seeks to put in place a body to
ensure that crimes against the EU budget are effectively investigated and
prosecuted so that criminals are brought to court and money is recovered.

Justice for Citizens: Making justice
simple for citizens

The EU took action to ensure that citizens
can make full use of their right to move, to buy goods and services, and to
live in another Member State. Citizens should fully enjoy EU citizenship
throughout their life and feel at ease wherever they are in the EU. This was
done for example by making it easier for them to handle the legal implications
of cross border successions and divorce or by proposing to reduce costly
paperwork in the Member States through the abolition of outdated
rubber-stamping formalities such as the Apostille or certified
translations between Member States.

Protecting Fundamental Rights

As the guardian of the Treaties, the
Commission intervened to ensure respect of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
(the “Charter”), including EU citizens' rights, and of the rule of law. The
legally binding Charter has become a compass for all EU institutions. The
Commission also intervened to ensure the respect of specific rights enshrined
in EU legislation, in particular right to equality, protection of personal
data, and consumer protection. This included action to strengthen gender equality
by promoting women in decision-making.

3. 
The Challenges: Strengthening trust, mobility
and growth within the Union

Though tangible progress has been made to
date towards a fully common European area of justice, more needs to be done
after the end of the transitional period on 1 December 2014.

Trust. Mutual trust is the bedrock upon which EU justice policy should be
built. While the EU has laid important foundations for the promotion of mutual
trust, it needs to be further strengthened to ensure that citizens, legal
practitioners and judges fully trust judicial decisions irrespective of the Member State where they have been taken. EU instruments such as the European arrest warrant
or the regulations on conflict of laws issues between Member States require a
high level of mutual trust between justice authorities from different Member
States. Mutual trust between courts and administrations helps them to recognise
and enforce each other's decisions and facilitates access to justice on equal
terms in all Member States. A
key requirement for mutual trust is the independence, quality and efficiency of
the judicial systems[10]
and the respect of the rule of law[11].
A very important ingredient of trust is that progress in laws is made a reality
on the ground. This requires laws already agreed at EU level to be transposed
and applied effectively. It requires also effective enforcement tools at
national level to ensure better access to justice in all Member States.

Mobility. Europeans are increasingly taking advantage of the rights conferred
on them by the EU Treaties. There are currently nearly 14 million EU citizens
residing in a Member State of which they are not a national (up from 12.1
million in 2009).[12]
EU citizens increasingly travel[13],
study, vote[14],
work, benefit from health care, get married[15],
have children, buy property, divorce[16]
and die[17]
in a Member State other than the one they were born in. Even without leaving
home, consumers[18]
buy goods and services across borders, including online. Despite progress in
the enjoyment of their rights, EU citizens still face some obstacles. They
still experience practical and legal difficulties when they try to enjoy the
same rights they have at home in another Member State. The EU needs to address
these obstacles with determination, while continuing to enable the fight
against abuse, particularly at a time when the right to free movement of EU
citizens is being challenged by some. The right of EU citizens to move freely
and live in any EU country is one of the four fundamental freedoms enshrined in
EU law and a cornerstone of EU integration. In addition, the absence of borders
in the digital online world is a driver for the EU to address the interplay
between substantive laws.

Growth. EU justice policy should continue to support economic recovery,
growth and tackling unemployment. Structural reforms need to be pursued so as
to ensure that justice systems are capable of delivering swift, reliable and
trustworthy justice, which would notably reduce the length of judicial
proceedings thereby supporting the effectiveness of other policies. Businesses and consumers need to be confident that they will be able to
effectively enforce contracts and handle litigation in court, or where possible
out of court, throughout the EU, within a reasonable time and without
encountering the variety of hurdles they still confront today. Growth in the
digital economy also requires the trust and confidence of citizens, as they are
concerned about the large-scale processing or surveillance of their personal
data when using online services.

4. 
addressing the challenges: Consolidate, Codify,
Complement

To tackle the
challenges identified for bringing about a fully functioning European area of
justice, the focus of EU justice policy in the years to come should be on consolidating
what has already been achieved, and, when necessary and appropriate, codifying
EU law and practice and complementing the existing framework with new
initiatives. Depending on the type of challenges, the future EU justice policy
should use a combination of these methods, based on a case by case analysis and
impact assessment.

When applying any of
these methods, the EU should fully take account of the fact that the diversity
of legal systems and traditions in the EU has to be preserved; that
subsidiarity and proportionality have to be respected as well as the need to
base all EU action, and notably EU action in the field of justice policies,
firmly on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

4.1. 
Consolidate

In carrying the EU agenda for justice forward,
the EU should first and foremost consolidate the progress achieved, ensuring
that fundamental rights are upheld and that rights granted by EU legislation
become a reality. Instruments agreed at EU level must be transposed by Member
States, effectively implemented and used. When such rights are not respected,
there should be effective remedies available.

i) 
Upholding Fundamental Rights

The EU should pursue its efforts to ensure
that it remains exemplary in its application of the Charter. This requires action
from all European institutions and Member States when implementing EU law to
promote the effective application of the Charter and of secondary legislation
addressing specific rights, such as the protection of personal data, gender
equality, citizens’ rights, fair trial rights or children’s rights. Ensuring
the effective protection of these rights across the EU is crucial for the trust
of citizens in the proper functioning of the European area of justice. This
includes the rights of persons belonging to minorities or those of persons in
particularly vulnerable situations such as children, victims of crime and
persons with disabilities. Moreover, there should be a continued common
determination to fight xenophobic or racist hate speech and crimes within the
EU. The advice and expertise of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency is important
to contribute to the development of EU policies, including in criminal matters.

The EU should also continue its work in
ensuring equality between women and men in pay, pensions and participation in
the labour market, including in positions of top management. This action should
help ensuring that Europe is making full use of all available talent.

ii) 
Ensuring effective remedies

There are no rights without effective
remedies. The EU should pursue its efforts to ensure the respect of the right
to an effective remedy before a tribunal in case of violation of EU law
(Article 47 of the Charter), including in cases where national procedures make
it excessively difficult for citizens to claim the rights granted to them by EU
law in cross-border cases.

To further facilitate the rapid resolution
of disputes, Member States should promote the use of other types of
non-judicial redress and remedies mechanisms developed in the EU which could offer
a swift, efficient and less costly solution to disputes. Such mechanisms and
instruments include, for example, mediation, alternative dispute resolution,
online dispute resolution, SOLVIT, the European Small Claims Procedure and the
newly agreed European Account Preservation Order.

Administrative review, the work of national
enforcement authorities as well as procedures before equality bodies, can also
play a role. Close cooperation between national authorities or administrative
bodies is particularly important for the effectiveness of certain EU rights,
such as the right to free movement or the protection of personal data. To
better tackle EU-wide breaches of consumer protection law, the cooperation
between national enforcement authorities needs to be strengthened. The
independence of enforcement authorities, when required by EU law, as is the
case for data protection authorities, must be ensured.

Well-functioning justice systems dealing
with administrative cases are also crucial for the effectiveness of EU law.

iii) Judicial Training

The impact of EU law on the daily lives of
European citizens and businesses is such that every national legal practitioner
– from lawyers and bailiffs on the one hand, to judges and prosecutors on the
other – should also be knowledgeable in EU law and capable of interpreting and
effectively enforcing EU law, alongside his or her own domestic law. In the Union's decentralised legal system, national judges often need to become "Union law
judges" to be able to fulfil their responsibilities.

Training legal
practitioners in EU law is thus of utmost importance to ensure EU law is
implemented and applied correctly, to build trust in each other's judicial
systems and enable practitioners to cooperate and trust each other across
borders.

More than 130,000 legal practitioners
received training in EU law in 2011 and 2012. This includes a quarter of all EU
judges and prosecutors. It is now time to take training a step further and
actively involve court staff and legal practitioners in EU law from the outset
as well. The experience of the European Judicial Training Network should be
consolidated and expanded to include all new judges and prosecutors. The
potential of e‑learning should also be fully exploited.

The EU should make full use of existing
networks to facilitate the training of legal practitioners and help reach the
objective of training 50% of them – a total of 700,000 – in EU law by 2020. The
Commission is ready to support these efforts: the 2014-2020 Justice financial
programme reflects the importance granted to training by the Commission. 35% of
the programme's overall budget of 378 million EUR will support high-quality
European training projects for all justice professions and help share best
practices on subjects such as curricula or interactive training methodology.

iv) Information and communication technologies

Information and communication technologies
(e-justice) facilitate access to justice for citizens and businesses.

The E-justice[19] and other relevant portals
informing citizens and businesses on their rights such as Your Europe[20], should continue to
develop into operational tools that facilitates access to justice, removes red
tape and unnecessary procedures in the Member States, notably in civil and
commercial proceedings. The E-justice portal can also make cross-border
cooperation easier, for example by providing citizens and practitioners with
templates and forms translated in all official languages of the EU. The
interconnection of national registers at EU level should ensure that legal
practitioners, citizens and businesses can access the information they need in
other Member States. Such registers include business, land and insolvency
registers, as well as registers of wills.

The benefits of e-justice tools are not
limited to cross-border contexts alone. Direct electronic communication between
citizens, legal practitioners, businesses and courts is becoming a reality
across the European area of justice and the EU should support initiatives in
this area. In the context of ongoing structural reforms and the work on a
modern public administration, the digitisation of national justice systems is
becoming a key instrument for ensuring effective national justice systems.

The EU should encourage the use of
electronic tools, which can provide a real extra benefit for citizens,
businesses, legal practitioners and the courts, including tools to access the
case-law of courts in other Member States.

v) 
Operational Co-operation

Practitioners across Europe need to work
together to exchange information in a fast and secure way and to obtain
assistance from their counterparts. Enhancing operational cooperation between
all parties involved is crucial, particularly for establishing mutual trust.

Existing mechanisms and networks in civil
and criminal matters, such as the European Judicial Networks, should be
strengthened and their potential fully exploited, including online.

Eurojust needs to play its part to the
full, benefiting from its on-going reform, as it will remain an important EU
body for coordinating the prosecution of crime also after the establishment of
the European Public Prosecutor's Office, which will focus its activities, at
least initially, on the fight against fraud to the detriment of the financial
interests of the Union. For other transnational crimes, Eurojust will have a
key role to play and therefore will need to be further strengthened in
effectiveness. In this context, the potential of joint investigation teams
should be used to the maximum.

4.2. 
Codify

Codification of existing laws and practices
can facilitate the knowledge, understanding and the use of legislation, the
enhancement of mutual trust as well as consistency and legal certainty while
contributing to simplification and the cutting of red tape. In a number of
cases, the codification of certain parts of the existing EU legislation
relating to justice or to relevant case-law of the Court of Justice of the Union in the area of justice can be beneficial in terms of providing consistency of
legislation and clarity for the citizens and users of the law in general:

· 
Civil and commercial law: Since 2000, the EU has adopted a significant number of rules in
civil and commercial matters as well as on conflict of laws. The EU should
examine whether codification of the existing instruments could be useful,
notably in the area of conflict of laws;

· 
Consumer rights law: Following an assessment of the overall functioning of the Consumer
Rights Directive and the related acquis in the field of consumer legislation,
codification initiatives based on existing legislation should be explored and
assessed. The aim should be to raise consumers' awareness of their rights, to
simplify partially overlapping directives and to help companies apply the same
set of rules in different contexts;

· 
Criminal law: EU
legislation relating to procedural rights in criminal matters is currently
contained in a considerable number of different instruments which have been
developed and adopted step by step over the past years. To further strengthen
the level-playing field and the consistency of the protection of the rights of
suspected persons, the need for codifying criminal procedural rights into one
instrument could be examined.

To facilitate trust and mutual cooperation
attention should also be paid to the case-law of the Court of Justice of the
Union relating to the rules and principles that need to be applied by national
administrations when implementing EU law.

4.3. 
Complement

Justice policy is a dynamic area, shaped in
particular by the increasing mobility of citizens and businesses. Initiatives
to complement existing justice policies and legal instruments may therefore
have to be envisaged where appropriate. This should always be done with the
purpose of enhancing mutual trust, to facilitate the life of citizens and to further
contribute to growth. The need and the added value of such complementary
initiatives will have to be as carefully assessed as in other areas of EU
policies. In addition, the diversity of Member States’ legal systems and
traditions will always have to be taken into account. The approaches to be
chosen – for example, mutual recognition, identification of the applicable law,
traditional harmonisation, harmonised optional substantive, or procedural law
regime – will depend on the issue at stake.

Enhance mutual trust. Mutual trust requires justice systems which are independent, of
quality and efficient. Existing or perceived shortcomings should be addressed
so that citizens and businesses can fully rely on the judicial system they are
dealing with. Assurance that both parties' procedural rights are protected is also
a crucial element in ensuring mutual trust both in civil and in criminal
matters. The need to reinforce civil procedural rights should be examined, for
example as regards the service of documents or the taking of evidence and in
ensuring that the best interests of the child are upheld as a primary concern.
In order to facilitate smooth cooperation in criminal matters, the mutual
recognition of instruments could be further strengthened, building on work done
so far, in areas such as the recognition of financial penalties, confiscation
orders and disqualifications. Once the European Public Prosecutor's Office is
set up, practice will show the possible need for complementary measures.

Contribute to economic growth. Complementary justice policy initiatives may also be needed to
further contribute to growth, for example, by going a
step further in developing an EU "rescue and recovery" culture for
insolvencies. Minimum standards in the field of substantive insolvency law
could become desirable for all Member States to allow
viable businesses that are in financial difficulties to undergo restructuring
at an early stage. Technological developments, in particular in markets with
significant potential for growth (like the cloud market), require EU civil law
to be up-to-date. A clearer and more consistent civil and contract law
framework, including by means of optional systems which are respectful of
subsidiarity and the diversity of national legal systems, could respond to this
challenge by providing businesses with a level-playing field while safeguarding
the interests of consumers. Enforcement of consumer protection rights remains
national while cross-border shopping increases. Strengthening the enforcement or
clarifying existing consumer protection laws should help to strengthen consumer
trust.

Facilitate citizens’ lives. In order to give full effect to the right of every citizen to
participate in the democratic life of the Union and enable mobile EU citizens
to better integrate into their host country, the need to adopt provisions
adding to the citizenship rights referred to in the EU Treaties can be
examined. In order to avoid situations where citizens encounter problems, for
example, related to civil status records, the EU should assess the need for
further action, such as rules on family names to complement existing proposals
to facilitate the acceptance of those public documents which are of particular
practical relevance when citizens or businesses make use of their free movement
rights. In criminal matters, victims do not always benefit from a satisfactory
level of compensation, in particular from the offender. Action to remedy this
should be explored. Furthermore, national Roma integration strategies should be
translated into concrete actions at national and local level. This includes the
optimisation of the use of EU funds and looking at how to ensure better
targeting of EU funds explicitly for Roma inclusion.

Being active in international fora
and engaging with EU partners is crucial to ensure EU citizens and businesses
are protected in their relations with third countries. The objective should be
that what has been achieved at EU level in the justice areas for defending
rights and setting standards, such as in the field of personal data protection,
finds support and drives EU relations with third countries. Special attention
will be paid to the promotion of effective justice systems in particular in
enlargement and neighbouring countries. At multilateral level, focus will be
given to more efficient cooperation with the Hague Conference on Private
International Law, where the EU speaks with one voice in areas of civil and
commercial law.

In view of its importance for the overall
fundamental rights architecture around the European area of justice, the EU's
accession to the European Convention on Human Rights – negotiated by the
Commission between 2010 and 2014 on the basis of a mandate given to it by the
Council – needs to overcome the last hurdles. Once the Court of Justice will
have issued its opinion on the outcome of these negotiations, the EU, taking
full account of this opinion, should take all the action necessary to speedily
conclude the negotiations and complete the ratification process in all EU Member
States, so as to meet the obligation contained in the Treaties.

5. 
Conclusion

EU justice policy has become increasingly
central to EU integration and very tangible for many citizens. It has a major
role to play in enforcing the common values upon which the Union is founded, in
strengthening economic growth and in contributing to the effectiveness of other
EU policies. A properly designed EU justice policy can ensure that individuals
and businesses, notably those who make use of their free movement rights,
effectively benefit from a trusted and fully functioning common European area
of justice.

This EU Justice Agenda
for 2020 sets out the Commission's orientations for the political direction for
the EU's work in the years to come, which will now be discussed with the
European Parliament and the Council as well as with the public at large. The
result of this discussion should also inspire the strategic
guidelines to be provided by the European Council under Article 68 TFEU.

Making these
orientations a reality will require the continuous and determined efforts of
all EU institutions and all Member States, as well as the full involvement of
all stakeholders, in particular the citizens as end-users of the justice
systems, the judiciary and legal practitioners. Such involvement is crucial for
developing solutions that respond to the real practical challenges in citizens'
and businesses' daily lives and meet their expectations. As a result, by 2020,
justice and citizens' rights should know no borders in the EU.

[1]               The Stockholm Programme - An open and
secure Europe serving and protecting citizens – OJ C 115 of 4.5.2010.

[2]               Delivering an area of freedom, security
and justice for Europe's citizens - Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Programme –COM(2010) 171 final of 20.4.2010.

[3]               Assises de la Justice – Shaping
Justice policies in Europe for the years to come – 21 and 22 November 2013 –
Results of proceedings, discussion papers and written contributions are
available at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/events/assises-justice-2013/index_en.htm.

[4]               In a plenary meeting of the European
Parliament as well as in a number of meetings in its Committees, in particular,
JURI, LIBE, AFCO, DROI.

[5]               In two formal and two informal meetings
of the Justice and Home Affairs Council as well as working group level (CATS,
FREMP and Civil Matters working groups).

[6]               In the CIVEX Committee.

[7]               There are over 8 million criminal
proceedings in the EU every year.

[8]               A key impulsion for this "justice
for growth" was notably given by the Spanish Presidency of the Council in
2010 (Council conclusions on judicial cooperation for the support of economic
activity – 23.4.2010) as well as by the Irish Presidency in 2013 - http://eu2013.ie/media/eupresidency/content/documents/EU-Pres_Prog_A4.pdf
 - page 21.

[9]               Exequatur, a concept specific to the
private international law, refers to the requirement of a court decision
authorising the enforcement in that country of a judgment or court settlement
given abroad.

[10]             Communication from the
Commission – “The EU Justice Scoreboard A tool to promote effective justice and
growth” – COM(2013)160 and Communication from the Commission – “The 2014 EU
Justice Scoreboard” – COM(2014)155.

[11]             Communication from the
Commission "A new EU Framework to strengthen the Rule of Law" –,
COM(2014) 158.

[12]             There are 13.7 million European
citizens residing in a Member State of which they are not a national (up from
12.1 million in 2009 (Eurostat data).

[13]             Europe is the world's largest
travel market with sales of more than 550 million trips annually, covering also
trips outside the EU – source: (data from Eurostat, reflected in SWD(2013) 263
final).

[14]             The proportion of citizens
living in another Member State and registered to vote there was 5,9% in 1994.
The figure increased to 11,6% in 2009.

[15]             Approximately 16 million (13%)
of the 122 million marriages in the Union have a cross-border dimension. Of the
2.4 million marriages celebrated in the Union in 2007, 300,000 had a
cross-border dimension – source: SEC(2011) 327.

[16]             In Europe, there are around 16
million international couples, and every year at least 650,000 of them face the
question of how to divide up their property when their marriage or partnership
comes to an end – source: SEC(2011) 327.

[17]             An estimated 450,000 European
families deal with an international succession each year, valued at more than
€120 billion – source: SEC(2009) 410.

[18]             There are more than 500 million
consumers in Europe. Consumer expenditure, amounting to 56% of EU GDP, reflects
the enormous power of the consumer to drive forward the European economy –
source: EU Consumer Agenda of 2012, COM(2012) 225.

[19]             https://e-justice.europa.eu/

[20]             http://europa.eu/youreurope/