BETA


2018/2079(INL) Expedited settlement of commercial disputes

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead JURI ZWIEFKA Tadeusz (icon: PPE PPE) COFFERATI Sergio Gaetano (icon: S&D S&D), ZŁOTOWSKI Kosma (icon: ECR ECR), CAVADA Jean-Marie (icon: ALDE ALDE)
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 47

Events

2019/03/11
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2018/12/13
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2018/12/13
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted by 521 votes to 35, with 14 abstentions, a resolution with recommendations to the Commission on the expedited settlement of commercial disputes.

Members noted that the settlement of commercial matters could be much faster than it is at present (on average three or four years). They contended that the adoption of a regulation similar to the European small claims procedure (ESCP), the European Expedited Civil Procedure (EECP) applicable to cross-border commercial disputes would be the best way to address the long waiting times for commercial disputes in the Union, possibly making great savings for European businesses and mobilising unused capital.

The Commission is invited to submit, by 1 January 2020, a proposal for a legislative act under Article 81(2) of the Treaty on a European Small Claims Procedure and a possible proposal to amend the Rome I and Rome II Regulations and the Brussels Ia Regulation .

Parliament recommended introducing a voluntary European Expedited Civil Procedure (EECP) 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.

The procedure should be introduced on a voluntary basis and be based on the following principles:

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

- 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;

- apply only if the parties have been duly informed in advance of the consequences of consenting to use this procedure;

- 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;

- not allow separate appeal against procedural decisions;

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

- 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;

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

- encourage the use of modern technologies for the purpose of oral hearings, taking of evidence and service of documents.

Moreover, the costs of the EECP should not be excessive for the parties, in order to guarantee the respect of the right of access to justice.

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.

These legislative measures cannot address these issues alone, practical measures to raise the expertise both of courts and of lawyers are also necessary, such as improved training in commercial matters and better access to Union law and the national law of the Member States, in particular case law.

Documents
2018/12/13
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2018/12/12
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2018/11/26
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Details

The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted a report by Tadeusz ZWIEFKA (EPP, PL) with recommendations to the Commission on the expedited settlement of commercial disputes.

Member noted that the settlement of commercial matters could be much faster than it is at present (on average three or four years). They contended that the adoption of a regulation similar to the European small claims procedure (ESCP), the European Expedited Civil Procedure (EECP) applicable to cross-border commercial disputes would be the best way to address the long waiting times for commercial disputes in the Union, possibly making great savings for European businesses and mobilising unused capital.

The Commission is invited to submit, by 1 January 2020, a proposal for a legislative act under Article 81(2) of the Treaty on a European Small Claims Procedure and a possible proposal to amend the Rome I and Rome II Regulations and the Brussels Ia Regulation .

Members recommend introducing a voluntary European Expedited Civil Procedure (EECP) 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. Such a procedure could build on requirements for thorough preparations by the parties before the procedure is launched, strict deadlines, few possibilities to add facts or evidence during the process and no separate appeal to procedural decisions, thus achieving a fast-track procedure;

The EECP should be voluntary and should only apply:

where the parties have agreed to make use of the procedure after the dispute has arisen, or where the defendant accepts to participate in the procedure after the claimant has brought an action under the EECP, provided that the defendant has enough time to adequately prepare before the start of the procedure;

The EECP should in any case be valid only where the parties have been duly informed in advance of the consequences of consenting to use such a procedure. Moreover, the costs of the EECP should not be excessive for the parties, in order to guarantee the respect of the right of access to justice.

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.

These legislative measures cannot address these issues alone, practical measures to raise the expertise both of courts and of lawyers are also necessary, such as improved training in commercial matters and better access to Union law and the national law of the Member States, in particular case law.

Documents
2018/11/20
   EP - Vote in committee
2018/10/19
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2018/09/21
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2018/06/14
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2018/05/15
   EP - ZWIEFKA Tadeusz (PPE) appointed as rapporteur in JURI

Documents

Votes

A8-0396/2018 - Tadeusz Zwiefka - Vote unique 13/12/2018 12:07:24.000 #

2018/12/13 Outcome: +: 521, -: 35, 0: 14
DE IT ES PL FR GB RO AT SE PT BE NL BG CZ HU FI DK SK HR LT EL EE CY MT LU SI LV IE
Total
75
49
43
41
59
52
23
16
15
17
15
19
13
15
13
11
11
11
10
8
13
6
6
6
5
5
4
7
icon: PPE PPE
174

United Kingdom PPE

1

Denmark PPE

For (1)

1

Estonia PPE

For (1)

1

Cyprus PPE

1

Luxembourg PPE

2

Latvia PPE

2

Ireland PPE

3
icon: S&D S&D
147

Belgium S&D

3

Netherlands S&D

2

Hungary S&D

1

Finland S&D

1

Denmark S&D

2

Croatia S&D

2

Lithuania S&D

1

Estonia S&D

For (1)

1

Cyprus S&D

2

Malta S&D

3

Luxembourg S&D

For (1)

1

Slovenia S&D

For (1)

1

Latvia S&D

1
icon: ALDE ALDE
54

Germany ALDE

2

United Kingdom ALDE

1

Romania ALDE

2

Austria ALDE

For (1)

1

Sweden ALDE

2

Portugal ALDE

1

Bulgaria ALDE

3

Croatia ALDE

2

Lithuania ALDE

2

Estonia ALDE

3

Luxembourg ALDE

For (1)

1

Latvia ALDE

1

Ireland ALDE

For (1)

1
icon: ECR ECR
54

Italy ECR

1

Romania ECR

2

Sweden ECR

2

Netherlands ECR

For (1)

1

Bulgaria ECR

1

Czechia ECR

2

Finland ECR

1

Slovakia ECR

2

Croatia ECR

For (1)

1

Lithuania ECR

1

Greece ECR

Abstain (1)

1

Cyprus ECR

1
icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE
37

Spain Verts/ALE

2

France Verts/ALE

Abstain (1)

5

United Kingdom Verts/ALE

5

Austria Verts/ALE

2

Sweden Verts/ALE

3

Belgium Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Netherlands Verts/ALE

1

Hungary Verts/ALE

2

Finland Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Denmark Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Croatia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Estonia Verts/ALE

For (1)

1

Luxembourg Verts/ALE

For (1)

1
icon: GUE/NGL GUE/NGL
35

Italy GUE/NGL

1

Sweden GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Portugal GUE/NGL

For (1)

3

Netherlands GUE/NGL

Abstain (1)

3

Czechia GUE/NGL

2

Finland GUE/NGL

For (1)

1

Cyprus GUE/NGL

2

Ireland GUE/NGL

3
icon: EFDD EFDD
33

Germany EFDD

Abstain (1)

1

Poland EFDD

1

Czechia EFDD

Against (1)

1

Lithuania EFDD

For (1)

1
icon: NI NI
11

Germany NI

2

Poland NI

Against (1)

2

France NI

For (1)

Against (1)

2

United Kingdom NI

Against (1)

1

Hungary NI

For (1)

1

Denmark NI

1

Greece NI

2
icon: ENF ENF
23

Germany ENF

Abstain (1)

1

Poland ENF

Against (1)

1

Belgium ENF

For (1)

1

Netherlands ENF

2
AmendmentsDossier
78 2018/2079(INL)
2018/10/19 JURI 78 amendments...
source: 629.471

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)

docs/0/docs/0/url
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/JURI-PR-627896_EN.html
docs/1/docs/0/url
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Rules of Procedure EP 159
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shadows
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  • date: 2018-11-12T00:00:00 body: EP type: Indicative plenary sitting date, 1st reading/single reading
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docs
  • date: 2018-09-21T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE627.896 title: PE627.896 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2018-10-19T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE629.471 title: PE629.471 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
  • date: 2019-03-11T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=31851&j=0&l=en title: SP(2019)129 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
events
  • date: 2018-06-14T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2018-11-20T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2018-11-26T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A8-2018-0396&language=EN title: A8-0396/2018 summary: The Committee on Legal Affairs adopted a report by Tadeusz ZWIEFKA (EPP, PL) with recommendations to the Commission on the expedited settlement of commercial disputes. Member noted that the settlement of commercial matters could be much faster than it is at present (on average three or four years). They contended that the adoption of a regulation similar to the European small claims procedure (ESCP), the European Expedited Civil Procedure (EECP) applicable to cross-border commercial disputes would be the best way to address the long waiting times for commercial disputes in the Union, possibly making great savings for European businesses and mobilising unused capital. The Commission is invited to submit, by 1 January 2020, a proposal for a legislative act under Article 81(2) of the Treaty on a European Small Claims Procedure and a possible proposal to amend the Rome I and Rome II Regulations and the Brussels Ia Regulation . Members recommend introducing a voluntary European Expedited Civil Procedure (EECP) 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. Such a procedure could build on requirements for thorough preparations by the parties before the procedure is launched, strict deadlines, few possibilities to add facts or evidence during the process and no separate appeal to procedural decisions, thus achieving a fast-track procedure; The EECP should be voluntary and should only apply: where the parties have agreed to make use of the procedure after the dispute has arisen, or where the defendant accepts to participate in the procedure after the claimant has brought an action under the EECP, provided that the defendant has enough time to adequately prepare before the start of the procedure; The EECP should in any case be valid only where the parties have been duly informed in advance of the consequences of consenting to use such a procedure. Moreover, the costs of the EECP should not be excessive for the parties, in order to guarantee the respect of the right of access to justice. 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. These legislative measures cannot address these issues alone, practical measures to raise the expertise both of courts and of lawyers are also necessary, such as improved training in commercial matters and better access to Union law and the national law of the Member States, in particular case law.
  • date: 2018-12-12T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20181212&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2018-12-13T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=31851&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
  • date: 2018-12-13T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P8-TA-2018-0519 title: T8-0519/2018 summary: The European Parliament adopted by 521 votes to 35, with 14 abstentions, a resolution with recommendations to the Commission on the expedited settlement of commercial disputes. Members noted that the settlement of commercial matters could be much faster than it is at present (on average three or four years). They contended that the adoption of a regulation similar to the European small claims procedure (ESCP), the European Expedited Civil Procedure (EECP) applicable to cross-border commercial disputes would be the best way to address the long waiting times for commercial disputes in the Union, possibly making great savings for European businesses and mobilising unused capital. The Commission is invited to submit, by 1 January 2020, a proposal for a legislative act under Article 81(2) of the Treaty on a European Small Claims Procedure and a possible proposal to amend the Rome I and Rome II Regulations and the Brussels Ia Regulation . Parliament recommended introducing a voluntary European Expedited Civil Procedure (EECP) 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. The procedure should be introduced on a voluntary basis and be based on the following principles: - apply to cross-border commercial disputes to which the European Small Claims Procedure does not apply; - 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; - apply only if the parties have been duly informed in advance of the consequences of consenting to use this procedure; - 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; - not allow separate appeal against procedural decisions; - in principle be a written procedure, allowing for oral hearings where at least one of the parties so request; - 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; - encourage in- and out-of-court amicable settlement of cross-border commercial disputes, including by way of mediation; - encourage the use of modern technologies for the purpose of oral hearings, taking of evidence and service of documents. Moreover, the costs of the EECP should not be excessive for the parties, in order to guarantee the respect of the right of access to justice. 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. These legislative measures cannot address these issues alone, practical measures to raise the expertise both of courts and of lawyers are also necessary, such as improved training in commercial matters and better access to Union law and the national law of the Member States, in particular case law.
  • date: 2018-12-13T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
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