Amendments to the rules of procedure of the EFTA Court adopted by the Court on 20 September 2007 and approved by the Governments of the EFTA States
Date: 2008-07-17
Institutions: EFTA Court
Subjects: Court of Justice of the European Union, EFTA, judicial proceedings, operation of the Institutions

C 180/20

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

17.7.2008

V

(Announcements)

COURT PROCEEDINGS

EFTA COURT

Amendments to the rules of procedure of the EFTA Court adopted by the Court on 20 September
2007 and approved by the Governments of the EFTA States

(Only the English text is authentic)

(2008/C 180/12)

THE EFTA COURT,

Having regard to the Agreement between the EFTA States on
the Establishment of a Surveillance Authority and a Court of
Justice, signed in Oporto on 2 May 1992, and in particular
Article 43(2) thereof,

Having regard to Protocol 5 to the Agreement between the
EFTA States on the Establishment of a Surveillance Authority
and a Court of Justice, on the Statute of the Court, and in par-
ticular Article 43 thereof,

ADOPTS THE FOLLOWING DECISION AMENDING ITS RULES OF
PROCEDURE:

Article 1

1.

Article 31(1) shall be amended as follows:

‘1.
If the Court considers that the conduct of an adviser
or lawyer towards the Court, a Judge or the Registrar is
incompatible with the dignity of the Court or with the
requirements of the proper administration of justice, or that
such adviser or lawyer is using his rights for purposes other
than those for which they were granted, it shall inform the
person concerned.
informs the competent
the Court
authorities to whom the person concerned is answerable, a
shall be
copy of
forwarded to the person concerned.

to those authorities

the letter

sent

If

On the same grounds, the Court may at any time, having
heard the person concerned, exclude the person concerned
from the proceedings by order. That order shall have
immediate effect.’

2.

Article 32(5) shall be deleted.

Article 32(6) shall be paragraph 5, and shall also be

3.
amended as follows:

‘5. Without prejudice to the provisions in the preceding
paragraphs of this Article, the date on which a copy of the

including the schedule of
signed original of a pleading,
documents referred to in paragraph 3,
is received at the
Registry by telefax or other technical means of communica-
tion available to the Court shall be deemed to be the date of
lodgment for the purposes of compliance with the time-
limits for taking steps in proceedings, provided that the
signed original of the pleading, accompanied by the annexes
and copies referred to in the second subparagraph of para-
is lodged at the Registry no later than
graph 1 above,
10 days thereafter.

Without prejudice to the first subparagraph of paragraph 1
or to paragraphs 2 to 4, the Court may by decision deter-
mine the criteria for a procedural document sent to the
Registry by electronic means to be deemed to be the
original of that document. That decision shall be published
in the Official Journal of the European Union.’

4.

Article 33(2) shall be amended as follows:

‘2.
For the purpose of the proceedings, the application
shall state an address for service in the place where the
Court has its seat and the name of the person who is
authorized and has expressed willingness to accept service.

In addition to, or instead of, specifying an address for
service as referred to in the first subparagraph, the applica-
tion may state that the lawyer or agent agrees that service is
to be effected on him by telefax or other technical means of
communication.

If the application does not comply with the requirements
set out in the first and second subparagraphs, all service on
the party concerned for the purpose of the proceedings
shall be effected, for so long as the defect has not been
cured, by registered letter addressed to the agent or lawyer
of that party. By way of derogation from Article 75, service
shall then be deemed to be duly effected by the lodging of
the registered letter at a post office of the place where the
Court has its seat.’

17.7.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 180/21

5.

Article 35(1) shall be amended as follows:

8.

Article 72(3) shall be amended as follows:

‘1. Within two months after service on him of the appli-
cation, the defendant shall lodge a defence, stating:

(a) the name and address of the defendant;

(b) the arguments of fact and law relied on;

(c) the form of order sought by the defendant;

(d) the nature of any evidence offered by him.

‘3.
The President shall designate a Judge to act as Rappor-
teur. The Court shall, after considering the written observa-
tions of the opposite party, decide whether legal aid should
be granted in full or in part, or whether it should be
refused. The Court shall consider whether there is mani-
festly no cause of action.

Where the application for legal aid is refused in whole or in
part, the order shall state the reasons for that refusal.’

The provisions of Article 33(2) to (6) shall apply to the
defence.’

The following shall be added to Article 75 as new para-

9.
graph 4:

6.

The following shall be added to the Rules as Chapter 3a:

‘Chapter 3a

EXPEDITED PROCEDURES

Article 59a

On application by the applicant or the defendant, the
1.
President may exceptionally decide, on the basis of a recom-
mendation by the Judge-Rapporteur and after hearing the
other party, that a case is to be determined pursuant to an
expedited procedure derogating from the provisions of these
Rules, where the particular urgency of the case requires the
Court to give its ruling with the minimum of delay.

An application for a case to be decided under an expedited
procedure shall be made by a separate document lodged at
the same time as the application initiating the proceedings
or the defence, as the case may be.

2.
Under the expedited procedure, the originating appli-
cation and the defence may be supplemented by a reply and
a rejoinder only if the President considers this to be neces-
sary.

An intervener may lodge a statement in intervention only if
the President considers this to be necessary.

3.
Once the defence has been lodged or, if the decision
to adjudicate under an expedited procedure is not made
until after that pleading has been lodged, once that decision
has been taken, the President shall fix a date for the hearing,
which shall be communicated forthwith to the parties. He
may postpone the date of the hearing where the organiza-
tion of measures of
inquiry or of other preparatory
measures so requires.

Without prejudice to Article 37, the parties may supplement
their arguments and offer further evidence on the course of
the oral procedure. They must, however, give reasons for
the delay in offering such further evidence.

4.
Article 20 of the Statute of the EFTA Court permitting
the submission of written observations is applicable under
expedited procedure.’

7.

Article 71(3) shall be amended as follows:

‘3. Where costs to be recovered have been incurred in a
currency other than the euro or where the steps in respect
of which payment is due were taken in a country of which
the euro is not the currency, conversions of currency shall
be made at the European Central Bank's official rates of
exchange on the day of payment.’

‘4. Where, in accordance with the second subparagraph
of Article 33(2), the addressee has agreed that service is to
be effected on him by telefax or other technical means of
communication, any procedural document other than a
judgment or order of the Court may be served by the trans-
mission of a copy of the document by such means.

Where, for technical reasons or on account of the nature or
length of the document, such transmission is impossible or
impracticable, the document shall be served, if the addressee
has failed to state an address for service, at his address in
accordance with the procedures laid down in paragraph 2
of this Article. The addressee shall be so advised by telefax
or other technical means of communication. Service shall
then be deemed to have been effected on the addressee by
registered post on the tenth day following the lodging of
the registered letter at the post office of the place where the
Court has its seat, unless it is shown by the acknowledge-
ment of receipt that the letter was received on a different
date or the addressee informs the Registrar, within three
weeks of being advised by telefax or other technical means
of communication, that the document to be served has not
reached him.’

10.

Article 88(2) shall be amended as follows:

‘2.
The Court may at any time of its own motion, after
hearing the parties, decide whether there exists any absolute
bar to proceeding with a case or declare that the action has
become devoid of purpose and that there is no need to
adjudicate on it; it shall give its decision in accordance with
Article 87(3) and (4) of these Rules.’

Article 89(1), first subparagraph, shall be amended as

11.
follows:

‘1.
An application to intervene must be made within
six weeks of the publication of the notice referred to in
Article 14(6) of these Rules. Consideration may be given to
an application to intervene which is made after the expiry
of that period but before the decision to open the oral
procedure. In that event, if the President allows the interven-
tion, the intervener may, on the basis of the Report for the
Hearing communicated to him, submit his observations
during the oral procedure, if that procedure takes place.’

12.

Article 90(1) shall be amended as follows:

‘1.
If a defendant on whom an application initiating
proceedings has been duly served fails to lodge a defence to
the application in the proper
form within the time
prescribed, the applicant may apply for judgment by default.

The application shall be served on the defendant. The
President may decide to open the oral procedure on the
application.’

C 180/22

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

17.7.2008

13.

The following shall be added as a new Article 97a:

‘Article 97a

At the request of the national court, the President may exceptionally decide, on a proposal from
1.
the Judge-Rapporteur to apply an accelerated procedure derogating from the provisions of these Rules
to a reference for an advisory opinion, where the circumstances referred to establish that a ruling on the
question put to the Court is a matter of exceptional urgency. In that event, the President may immedi-
ately fix the date for the hearing, which shall be notified to the parties in the main proceedings and to
the other persons referred to in Article 20 of the Statute when the decision making the reference is
served.

2.
The parties and other interested persons referred to in the preceding paragraph may lodge state-
ments of case or written observations within a period prescribed by the President, which shall not be
less than 15 days. The President may request the parties and other interested persons to restrict the
matters addressed in their statement of case or written observations to the essential points of law raised
by the question referred.

The statements of case or written observations, if any, shall be notified to the parties and to the

3.
other persons referred to above prior to the hearing.’

1.

These amendments shall enter into force on 1 January 2008.

Article 2

Article 35(1) as amended shall apply in cases where the defendant's time limit to lodge a defence has

2.
started but has not yet elapsed.

This Decision, which is authentic in English, shall be published in the EEA Section of and the

3.
EEA Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union.

4.

This Decision shall be officially translated by the Court into German, Icelandic and Norwegian.

Luxembourg, 20 September 2007.

Carl BAUDENBACHER

President

Henrik BULL

Judge

Thorgeir ÖRLYGSSON

Judge