RECOMMENDATIONS AND GUIDELINES Effective adoption, transposition, implementation and application of European Union legislation in the area of civil justice (Latvia, Hungary, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom) Dr.iur Inga Kačevska Dr.iur Baiba Rudevska Dr.iur Arnis Buka Mg.iur Mārtiņš Dambergs LL.M Aleksandrs Fillers These Recommendations and Guidelines are Co-funded by the Civil Justice Programme of the European Union. The Law Office of Inga Kačevska and the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Latvia are those responsible for the content of these Recommendations and Guidelines, and it does not reflect the opinion of the European Commission in any way. Project “The Court of Justice of the European Union and its case law in the area of civil justice” JUST/2013/JCIV/AG/4691 (No. TM 2014/14/EK) RECOMMENDATIONS AND GUIDELINES Effective adoption, transposition, implementation and application of European Union legislation in the area of civil justice (Latvia, Hungary, Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom) Dr.iur Inga Kačevska Dr.iur Baiba Rudevska Dr.iur Arnis Buka Mg.iur Mārtiņš Dambergs LL.M Aleksandrs Fillers Riga 1 March 2015 PREFACE Every area of law is characterized not only by a set of certain material norms, but also by the application of those norms in practice. Nowadays, when globalization processes are making the world smaller and more interconnected, this statement holds true not only in relation to the national legal order, but to different international legal formations and especially to the EU and EU law. From various branches of EU law the area of civil justice is one of the most rapidly developing areas, thus challenging judges, civil servants and legal practitioners alike to keep up with this pace and to be capable of correct application of EU law in the area of civil justice. So far, rapid development of EU-area civil justice has already been reflected in many various academic studies and textbooks. However, the adoption, transposition and especially the application of EU law in this area remains a hidden part of an iceberg. Therefore, the main purpose of the present Recommendations and Guidelines is to uncover this largely overlooked level by analyzing the adoption, transposition and practical application of EU law in the area of civil justice in five Member States: Latvia, Germany, Hungary, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Even more, the authors aimed not only to identify issues of concern, but also pointed out directions for improvement of the quality of the adoption, transposition and application of EU law in the area of civil justice. Additionally, it is our hope that the materials of the present Recommendations and Guidelines will serve as a helping tool in the application of EU law in the area of civil justice for everyday practitioners, both in the public and private sectors. The responsibility for the content is shared jointly by the five authors of these Recommendations and Guidelines. Nevertheless, our work could not be accomplished without substantial support and assistance from various sources. First of all, the authors would like to thank the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Latvia for the development of the idea of such Recommendations and Guidelines and for making the whole research possible. Furthermore, the authors thank all state institutions in the other four Member States of the project for their assistance with the research materials and for sharing the information on good practices with the authors. Additionally, our sincere gratitude goes to all individuals from various countries that supported this project by filling out questionnaires, giving interviews, and providing information and their opinions. The Recommendations and Guidelines have been conducted with the financial support of the European Union program “Civil Law.” Researchers: Inga Kačevska, Baiba Rudevska, Arnis Buka, Mārtiņš Dambergs and Aleksandrs Fillers 3 CONTENTS PREFACE ..............................................................................................3 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................7 PART I: APPLICATION OF EU LAW IN THE AREA OF CIVIL JUSTICE .............................................12 1. General Issues of Application of EU Law in the Area of Civil Justice ...........................12 1.1. Awareness and Quality of Application in General .......................................12 1.2. Interpretation of the EU Law ...........................................................16 1.3. Language and Translation Issues .......................................................20 1.4. Calculations and Extension of Procedural Terms .........................................22 1.5. Scope of Application of Regulations ...................................................23 2. International Jurisdiction under the Brussels Ibis Regulation .................................23 3. Applicable Law under the Rome I, II and III Regulations ......................................29 4. Interim Measures ..........................................................................37 5. European Procedures ......................................................................40 6. Service of Documents ......................................................................44 6.1. Language issues ......................................................................45 6.2. Costs of Service .......................................................................47 6.3. Means of Service ......................................................................47 7. Taking of Evidence .........................................................................50 8. Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments ...............................................52 8.1. Enforcement of Common Law Instruments ............................................52 8.2. Human Rights and Free Movement of Judgments ......................................54 9. Insolvency .................................................................................56 9.1. Determination of COMI of natural persons ..............................................60 10. Other Matters .............................................................................62 10.1. Family Matters ........................................................................62 10.2. Cross Border Legal Aid .................................................................67 10.3. Mediation .............................................................................68 10.4. Cross Border Succession ...............................................................71 10.5. Protection Measures ...................................................................72 5 PART 2: ADOPTION, TRANSPOSITION AND CONTROL OVER TRANSPOSITION OF EU LAW IN THE AREA OF CIVIL JUSTICE ..........................................................................75 1. Adoption of EU law in the area of civil justice ................................................75 2. Transposition of EU law in the area of civil justice ............................................81 3. Control over transposition and application of EU law in the area of civil justice ................83 CONCLUSIVE REMARKS ...............................................................................85 ANNEX 1. SUMMARY OF THE QUESTIONNAIRES .................................................................87 ANNEX 2. TEMPORAL APPLICATION OF RESPECTIVE REGULATIONS ..............................................90 ANNEX 3. APPLICATION SCHEMA OF THE BRUSSELS IBIS AND THE ROME I AND II REGULATIONS .................96 6 INTRODUCTION [1] The purpose of these Recommendations and Guidelines is to give an overview of the general problems revealed in five particular Member States (Latvia, Germany, Hungary, Sweden and the United Kingdom) of the European Union (further: EU) regarding implementation, application and transformation of EU law in the field of civil justice. The Recommendations and Guidelines provide practical recommendations how to make more effective application of EU law in the civil law area. [2] The authors of these Recommendations and Guidelines are Dr. iur. Inga Kačevska, Attorney at Law, Assistant Professor at the University of Latvia in the field of international arbitration, private international law, international civil procedure and European consumer law; Dr.iur. Baiba Rudevska, Independent Researcher in the field of private international law (conflict-of-laws), international civil procedure, Latvian private law, comparative private law and inter-temporal law; Dr.iur. Arnis Buka, Lecturer at the University of Latvia in the field of European law and Euro- pean institutional law; Mg.iur., Mārtiņš Dambergs, PhD student, Independent Researcher in the field of European consumer law, private international law (conflict-of-laws), Latvian private and public law and international arbitration; LL.M Aleksandrs Fillers, PhD student, Independent Researcher in the field of international arbitration, private international law (conflict-of-laws) and Latvian private law. [3] The scope of these Recommendations and Guidelines is limited by the following EU legal acts and future EU proposals in the field of international judicial cooperation in civil matters: Regulation (EC) No. 805/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 creating a European Enforcement Order for uncontested claims (further: European Enforce- ment Order Regulation);1 Regulation (EC) No. 1896/2006 of the European Parliament