ANNEX TO THE RESOLUTION:

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR MEASURES TO INTRODUCE AND SUPPORT A EUROPEAN EXPEDITED CIVIL PROCEDURE

PRINCIPLES AND AIMS OF THE PROPOSALS REQUESTED

I. European Expedited Civil Procedure

The main aim of the following proposal is to introduce a voluntary European Expedited Civil Procedure in order to provide European companies a possibility to reach a settlement of purely commercial business-to-business disputes of a cross-border nature within a reasonable time frame.

A European Expedited Civil Procedure could build on the following principles:

1. It should apply to cross-border commercial disputes to which the European Small Claims Procedure does not apply;

2. It should apply if the parties so agree after the dispute arises or if the claimant launches a claim under the procedure and the defendant accepts it;

3. It should apply only if the parties have been duly informed in advance of the consequences of consenting to use this procedure;

4. It should require the parties to prepare their claims to a high degree before going to court; paired with early preclusion of the possibility to raise new facts or new evidence in court;

5. It should not allow separate appeal against procedural decisions;

6. It could in principle be a written procedure, allowing for oral hearings where at least one of the parties so request;

7. It should, as a starting point, apply very short deadlines to the procedure, allowing the court, in agreement with the parties, to apply longer deadlines in cases of higher complexity;

8. Encourage in- and out-of-court amicable settlement of cross-border commercial disputes, including by way of mediation;

9. Encourage the use of modern technologies for the purpose of oral hearings, taking of evidence and service of documents;

10. The costs of the procedure should be limited, in order to guarantee the respect of the right of access to justice;

11. Allow for recognition and enforcement of the final judgment under the procedure in the simplest and most user-friendly way available under Union law.

II. Possible changes to Rome I, Rome II and Brussels Ia Regulations

The proposal on European Expedited Civil Procedure could be supported by a proposal to amend the Rome I and Rome II and Brussels Ia Regulations to achieve a stronger connection between the purpose and aim of agreements and the law chosen within the Union also to afford the parties to purely commercial contracts further autonomy while ensuring the protection of the weaker parties in business-to-business relations.

Amendments to the Rome I Regulation could include:

1. Consideration of reinforcement of the connection between the law chosen and the content, aim and purpose of the contract and of the parties;

2. Reconsideration of the rules applicable to the validity of a choice of law, this ought to be considered under the default law applicable to the contract.

III. Other measures to build competence in commercial matters in Member States

1. These proposals ought to be further supported by actions by the Commission and the Member States to build competence in commercial matters, such as: a) training of judges and lawyers and legal practitioners in commercial matters; b) simplified and enhanced access to Union and Member States’ national law, including jurisprudence; c) further focus on commercial law and international private law in legal education; d) additional resources to academic research in the fields of commercial law and international private law; and e) the mastering of a foreign language and its legal terminology.

2. Furthermore, Member States are invited to ensure that courts applying the European Expedited Civil Procedure possess specific competence in the field of commercial law, for example by designating or reinforcing existing commercial courts or chambers.

3. In addition, the Commission is invited to further study the possibility to establish a European Commercial Court to supplement the courts of the Member States and offer litigants an additional, international forum specialised in settlement of commercial disputes.