Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2005:698
Date: 2005-11-17
Language of the case: Dutch
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Area of freedom, security and justice;Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Belgium

Summary of the Judgment Judicial cooperation in civil matters – Service of judicial and extrajudicial documents – Regulation No 1348/2000 (Council Regulation No 1348/2000, Arts 4 to 11 and 14) Council Regulation No 1348/2000 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters must be interpreted as meaning that it does not establish any hierarchy between the method of transmission and service through agencies under Articles 4 to 11 thereof and the method of service by post under Article 14 thereof and that, consequently, it is possible to serve a judicial document by one or other or both of those methods. First, neither the recitals in the preamble to the regulation nor its provisions state that a method of transmission and service, used in accordance with the rules of the regulation, would rank below the method of service through agencies. Secondly, in the light of the spirit and purpose of the regulation, which is intended to ensure that judicial documents are served effectively, while respecting the legitimate interests of the persons on whom they are served, and in view of the fact that all the methods of service provided for by the regulation can ensure, as a rule, that those interests are respected, it must be conceivable to use one or other, or indeed two or more at once of those methods of service which appear the most suitable or appropriate in light of the circumstances of the case. Consequently, where service is being effected both through agencies and by post, in order to determine vis-à-vis the person on whom service is effected the point from which time starts to run for the purposes of a procedural time-limit linked to effecting service, reference must be made to the date of the first service validly effected. In order not to render meaningless the provisions of the regulation governing those methods of service, all the legal effects which follow when one of those methods is validly effected must be taken into account irrespective of subsequent successful service by another method. Moreover, the regulation is intended to expedite the transmission of judicial documents for service and, therefore, the conduct of judicial proceedings. If, for the purposes of computing a procedural time-limit, the first service of the document in question is taken into consideration, the person on whom that document is served is required to defend judicial proceedings earlier, which can enable the competent court to give a ruling within shorter time-limits. (see paras 20-21, 28-32, operative part)