European Small Claims Procedure - the first autonomous adversarial European litigation procedure

Abstract

The paper analyzes the provisions of Regulation 861/2007 and Art. 1 of Regulation 2015/2421 by which the European legislator regulated the first autonomous adversarial litigation procedure for disputes with a cross-border element - the European procedure for small claims. In addition to the objectives projected at the beginning of the process of unification of the rules of this procedure at the European level and adopted solutions that seek to guarantee the realization of these objectives, the subject is the provisions determining the scope of these regulations and the rules of the procedure. that the written form for communication between the court, the parties and other participants is predominant, as well as the evidence, the decision and the possibility of its review. The most important novelties introduced by Art. 1 of Regulation 2015/2421, which amended Regulation 861/2007, and in particular to further insist on written form and therefore more rigid rules on the possibility of oral hearing, restrictions on the admission of evidence by examination of witnesses and expertise, use of new technologies, use of language and obligations of Member States to inform potential parties and parties to the proceedings. Certain solutions are the subject of criticism in theory, especially the lack of so-called. autonomous procedural concepts and instruments, so the most important views on this are also highlighted in the paper.