CCBE-INFO May 2007 / N°18 Représentant les avocats d’Europe Representing Europe’s lawyers Content Services Directive . .2 Money Laundering . .2 Commission report . .2 Competition . .2 Conveyancing services study . .2 CCBE Human Rights Award for European Lawyers . .3 What is the CCBE Human Rights Award? . .3 Procedure for the nomination of candidates for the CCBE Human Rights Award . .3 Training . .4 PECO . .4 CCBE Membership – Romania – Legal Advisers . .4 Ukraine . .4 Moldova . .4 Access to Justice Committee: The attachment of bank accounts . .4 Criminal law . .5 CCBE letter on procedural safeguards . .5 Provision and quality of legal interpreting and translation . .5 Corporate Social responsibility . .6 Questionnaire on CSR . .6 European Contract Law . .6 Family Law . .7 GATS . .7 Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) with the American Bar Association . .7 International Private Law . .7 IT-Law . .8 Establishment of EU lawyers in Luxembourg - Update . .8 Multi-jurisdictional Law Firms Committee . .8 Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance . .9 Social Security . .9 Editor: Peter Mc Namee Editorial Board: Birgit Beger Sieglinde Gamsjäger Karine Métayer Peter Mc Namee Editorial Secretaries: Maxime Servotte (translator) Sophie Testaert (layout) ccbe-info published 4 times / year Subscription is free of charge by send- ing an e-mail to: [email protected] 1 ccbe-info n° 18/2007 Services Directive In order to help Bars and Law Societies with the implementation of the Directive on Services in the Internal Market (O.J. L 376/36 du 27.12.2006 p. 36), the CCBE has adopted an internal commentary on the Directive. The commentary, which is not public at this stage, is meant to be an evolving document, which might be further completed and amended. National Bars and Law Societies are encouraged to get in touch with their national competent authorities (Ministries of Justice and Finance etc) in order to ensure that the implementing legislation of the Member States respect and recognise the prevalence of the existing lawyers’ Sectoral Directives and of the current lawyers’ acquis communautaire. For further information, please contact Karine Métayer ([email protected]). Money Laundering Commission report The European Commission has published its report on the impact of the 2001 Money Laundering Directive on the legal profession. The report is based on responses from the notarial and legal professions to questionnaires sent out by the Commission. The CCBE has examined the Commission’s report and has submitted a response (which is available on the CCBE’s website). The CCBE also participated in a meeting on 13 February 2007 with the Commission and EU Member States in order to discuss the Commission report. The CCBE believes that reliance upon the explanations set out in the Report for either the low level of reporting by legal professionals or the perceived reluctance on the part of legal professionals to report, should not, in the absence of a more in-depth and scientific examination of the issues involved, justify any substantive conclusion. It will be recalled that the 2001 Directive imposed for the first time reporting obligations on lawyers. The CCBE at the time heavily lobbied the institutions against the applicability of reporting obligations on the legal profes- sion, since such obligations violate the principle of client-confidentiality which exists between a client and lawyer. The CCBE continues to hold the view that the right of a client to consult a lawyer in confidence is a fundamen- tal right and is constitutionally protected in a number of countries. For further information, please contact Peter Mc Namee ([email protected]) Competition Conveyancing services study The CCBE has been closely following these last months a Commission funded comparative economic study into the impact of professional services regulation on the functioning of the European conveyancing services market. The German Centre of European Law and Politics (ZERP), which was commissioned to undertake the study, has presented some preliminary findings at the competition confer- ence concerning liberal professions in December 2006. The CCBE, through its member Bars and Law Societies, has tried to give some input into the final stages of the drafting process of the study, and the CCBE also raised serious concerns with regard to the methodology and timing of the study. The study is due to be published at the end of May/beginning of June 2007. For further information, please contact Sieglinde Gamsjäger (gams- European Commission [email protected]) 2 ccbe-info n° 18/2007 CCBE Human Rights Award for European Lawyers The CCBE has decided to institute a Human Rights Award for European Lawyers. The Award will be granted for the first time in 2007. What is the CCBE Human Rights Award? The objective of the CCBE award is to honour distinguished lawyers who have demonstrated outstanding com- mitment and sacrifice in order to uphold fundamental values. It will also be an effective and useful tool to raise awareness of the core values of the legal profession. The award, which in principle will be granted yearly, consists of a certificate delivered by the CCBE, the true award being the public recognition of the work undertaken by the lawyer selected. The certificate will be official- ly delivered to the winner by the CCBE President at the Plenary Session. The CCBE will cover the travelling and accommodation expenses for collecting the prize. The CCBE award shall be granted to a lawyer who has brought honour to the legal profession by upholding the highest values of professional and personal conduct in the field of human rights. The field of human rights shall be interpreted in the broadest way (this shall allow, for example, the possibility to grant the award to a lawyer who is the victim of human rights violations). The award shall usually be granted to a European lawyer or lawyers’ organisation. Procedure for the nomination of candidates for the CCBE Human Rights Award Candidates for the award shall be nominated only through the CCBE’s member or observer Bars. Candidates are to be nominated by the CCBE delegations by 31st May 2007. The CCBE Human Rights Committee will examine the nominations in June/July 2007. The recommendations of the Human Rights Committee will be submitted to the CCBE Standing Committee in September 2007. The Standing Committee will select the winner for 2007. The winner of the CCBE Award will be informed further to the decision taken at the CCBE Standing Committee. S/he will receive a formal invitation to collect personally the prize at the CCBE Plenary Session. The prize will be officially presented to the winner by the CCBE President this year at the Bruges Plenary Session on 23/24 November 2007 in Bruges. For further information, please contact Karine Métayer ([email protected]). 3 ccbe-info n° 18/2007 Training The CCBE – through its Training Committee – is organising a conference on ‘Improving legal education and train- ing in a converging Europe’ which will take place on 25-27 September in Warsaw, Poland. The conference will allow for presentation and discussion of current developments in the field of legal education and training of lawyers in Europe. It will deal with both university and professional training of lawyers and gather representatives from Bars and Law Societies, academics and training institutions from across Europe. More detailed information on the conference can be obtained at the following website address: (http://www.ccbe.org). For further information, please contact Sieglinde Gamsjäger ([email protected]) PECO CCBE Membership – Romania – Legal Advisers The CCBE received an application for membership from the Romanian Legal Advisors College Union earlier this year. A rapporteur has been appointed to examine the application and also the situation of legal advisers across Europe. It is hoped to come to a decision on the application at the CCBE Plenary Session in November 2007. Ukraine The Justice Committee of the Ukrainian Parliament set up earlier this year a working group to deal with the law on the Bar. Three experts from the CCBE are part of this working group (Rupert D’Cruz, UK; Petar Petrov, Bulgaria; Marc Jobert, France). They will need to analyse the draft laws currently pending before the Ukrainian Parliament. The progress of work on this will very much depend on the political developments in the Ukraine. On 2 April 2007, the Ukrainian President, Viktor Yushchenko, ordered Parliament to be dissolved and called a snap election. Moldova The CCBE member Bars from Italy and Greece are jointly organising a conference for Moldovan lawyers which will take place on 1 June 2007 in Chisinau, Moldova. The Italian Bar Association will deal with “The free move- ment of lawyers between Italy and Moldova” at the conference. The Greek Bar Association will give a presenta- tion on “The rights of lawyers defending their clients according to the ECHR requirements”. A number of Moldovan lawyers have also been invited to deliver speeches on these topics in order to provide an insight into the current situation and recent developments in Moldova. For further information, please contact Sieglinde Gamsjäger ([email protected]) Access to Justice Committee: The attachment of bank accounts As reported in CCBE INFO N°16, on 24 October 2006, the Commission adopted a Green Paper improving the efficiency of the enforcement of judgements in the European Union: The Attachment of Bank Accounts (COM (2006) 618) (SEC (2006) 1341). The Green Paper on the Attachment of Bank Accounts addresses the problems of cross-border debt recovery risk which constitutes an obstacle to the free circulation of payment orders within the European Union and an impediment for the proper functioning of the Internal Market. 4 ccbe-info n° 18/2007 The CCBE has prepared its response to the Green Paper on bank attachments which can be found at (http://www.ccbe.org).