About

Embracing a practice driven approach, a consortium of renowned experts in international procedural law will analyse the legislation and case-law of 7 Member States (namely, Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, and Luxembourg), promote the exchange of practices among operators (by means of 7 national and international exchange seminars) and collect good practices, with a view to assessing the interaction of the EU Regulations on the recognition and enforcement of judgments with national legislation. Notably, the targeted EU legislative instruments are the Brussels Ia Regulation and the Regulations on the European Enforcement Order, the European Small Claims Procedure, the European Payment Order, and the European Account Preservation Order.

The interaction of said EU instruments with national rules signifies a major weakness of the system, making it difficult for practitioners, and even more for consumers and businesses, to be aware of the mere existence and practical functioning of the available procedures and mechanisms.

The consortium will pursue clarity by means of 7 Practice Guides on the cross-border recovery of claims in the targeted Member States. It will contribute to the improvement of existing EU and national legislation by drafting Policy recommendations for national and EU policymakers. Finally, it will foster clarity and access to information by setting up the EFFORTS Network and a Working Group on the digitalization of enforcement procedures.

The Project involves judges, enforcement agents, EU and national policymakers, lawyers, in-house counsellors, consumer associations, and academics.

Entities that support the Project include: Italian Ministry of Justice, Croatian Ministry of Justice, Lithuanian Ministry of Justice, Lithuanian Chambers of Judicial Officers, EuroCollectNet Lawyers – International Debt Recovery Association, German Federal Bar Association, Milan Bar Association, Working group for international commercial law of the German Lawyer Association, Law – Made in Germany initiative of the German Lawyer Association, IBA Litigation Committee, Italian Association for Family Lawyers.