Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty concerning the common position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters ("Service of documents")
Date: 2007-07-10
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU Member State, EU act, civil law, commercial law, exchange of information, judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the EU

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 10.7.2007 
COM(2007) 400 final 

2005/0126 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the 

common position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European 
Parliament and of the Council on the service in the Member States of judicial and 
extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters ("Service of documents") 

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2005/0126 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to the second subparagraph of Article 251 (2) of the EC Treaty 

concerning the 

common position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European 
Parliament and of the Council on the service in the Member States of judicial and 
extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters ("Service of documents") 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the EP and the Council 
(document COM(2005)305 final – 2005/0126 (COD): 

07.07.2005. 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

14.02.2006. 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

04.07.2006. 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal: 

Date of adoption of the common position: 

01.12.2006 

28.06.2007 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE COMMISSION PROPOSAL 

The  objective  of  this  Regulation  is  to  further  improve  and  expedite  the  transmission  and 
service  of  judicial  and  extrajudicial  documents  in  civil  or  commercial  matters  for  service 
between the Member States, to simplify the application of certain provisions of the Regulation 
and to improve legal certainty for the applicant and for the addressee. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE COMMON POSITION 

3.1. 

General comment 

The Council’s common position was adopted by unanimity. It preserves the essentials of the 
Commission’s initial proposal (in particular the important modification of Article 11 (costs)) 
as modified by the amended proposal. 

The main changes made in the common position concern the following issues: 

-  the  common  position  is  a  coordinated  and  comprehensive  version  of  the  Regulation 
incorporating  the  amendments  adopted  by  the  European  Parliament  (and  not  a  mere 
amendment of Regulation (EC) 1348/2000); 

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-  express  exclusion  of  liability  of  the  State  for  actions  or  omissions  in  the  exercise  of  state 
authority ("acta iure imperii") from the scope (Article 1(1)); 

-  comitology:  regulatory  procedure  with  scrutiny  instead  of  advisory  procedure  (Articles  17 
and 18); 

-  publication  of  information  communicated  by  Member  States  in  the  Official  Journal  of  the 
European Union with the exception of the addresses and other contact details of the agencies 
and of the central bodies and the geographical areas in which they have jurisdiction (article 
23(2)). 

- new Annex II (information of the addressee about his right to refuse to accept a document). 

Other amendments are of a more formal nature and have been made to render the text easier 
to read. 

The Commission can accept the common position which, although modifying some specific 
features  of  the  Commission’s  original  proposal  as  amended  following  Parliament’s  opinion, 
remains  faithful  to  the  objective  of  further  improving  and  expediting  the  transmission  and 
service of documents for service between the Member States. 

3.2. 

Outcome of Parliament´s amendments 

All amendments of Parliament were included in the amended proposal of the Commission and 
also in the common position.  

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission accepts the common position in the light of the fact that it includes the key 
elements included in its initial proposal and Parliament’s amendments as incorporated into its 
amended proposal. 

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