Kiri

Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË – Tel. +32 22991111

Office: LX40 01/058 – Tel. direct line +32 229-74128

[email protected]

EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR JUSTICE AND CONSUMERS

Directorate A – Justice Policies

The Director

Brussels

JUST.A.1/KE

Permanent Representations of the

Member States of the EU

By e-mail

Subject: Communication by Member States pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2023/2844

on the digitalisation of judicial cooperation and access to justice in cross-border civil,

commercial and criminal matters

Dear Sir/Madam,

Pursuant to Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2023/2844 (1) (the Digitalisation Regulation),

Member States have an obligation to communicate certain information as outlined in

Annex I of this correspondence to the Commission at the latest by 17 July 2024. The

purpose of collecting the information is to make it easily accessible through the European

e-Justice Portal to the public. The information would, inter alia, assist natural and legal

persons who intend to initiate proceedings falling in the scope of the Digitalisation

Regulation or are parties to such proceedings. This information will make it easier for these

persons to participate in the proceedings.

In Annex II you will find practical guidance with regard to the information, which should

be provided.

(1) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2844

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Should you have any questions on the substance of the communications, please do not

hesitate to contact us via [email protected].

Yours faithfully,

Richard SONNENSCHEIN

(E-signed)

Enclosure: Annexes I and II

c.c.: STAUDENMAYER Dirk, PETRI Gosta, ENTCHEVA Katerina,

BRECZEWSKI Nicolas, KOIT Haldi, IVANTCHEV Alexander (JUST)

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Annex I

Information to be communicated to the Commission

Pursuant to Article 17 of the Digitalisation Regulation, Member States must communicate

to the Commission the following information:

(a) details of national IT portals, where applicable;

(b) a description of the national laws and procedures applicable to videoconferencing

in accordance with Articles 5 and 6;

(c) information on fees due;

(d) details on the electronic payment methods available for fees due in cross-border

cases;

(e) the authorities with competence under the legal acts listed in Annexes I and II,

where they have not already been notified to the Commission in accordance with

those legal acts;

(f) whether your Member State is in a position to apply Article 5 or 6 on

videoconferencing earlier than the date of entry in application of Articles 5 and 6

of the Digitalisation Regulation (1 May 2025);

(g) whether your Member State is in a position to operate the decentralised IT system

earlier than the date of entry in application of the Digitalisation Regulation (17

January 2028 for the legal acts in the first batch; 17 January 2029 for the legal

acts in the second batch; 17 January 2030 for the legal acts in the third batch and

17 January 2031 for the legal acts in the fourth batch).

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Annex II

Practical guidance with regard to the information to be provided

I. Notifications pursuant to Article 17(1)(a) - (d) and Article 17(2) of the Digitalisation

Regulation

With regard to communicating the information required by Article 17(1)(a) - (d) and

Article 17(2) of the Digitalisation Regulation, the Commission services established a

dedicated webpage on the European e-Justice Portal (“Digitalisation Regulation – Member

State notifications”). Specific information about the webpage and a link to it will be

provided to the Member State e-Justice Portal content administrators at latest by 17 June

2024.

The information should be provided in an EU official language of your Member State.

Hereunder we include specific guidance on the expected input. The information on

applicable law on videoconferencing is divided into two separate sections for civil and

criminal matters in the way it will appear on the e-Justice Portal.

Article 17(1)(a) National IT portals for communicating with courts or other

authorities. The information in this subsection is intended to cover existing national IT

portals in civil and commercial matters, where developed by the Member States for the

purposes of participating in judicial procedures and of electronic communication between

natural and legal persons and the respective national judicial authorities. Such national IT

portals could offer equivalent functionalities as the ones foreseen for the European

electronic access point established by the Digitalisation Regulation. The information

should include the following:

(a) the name of the national IT portal, and a link thereto,

(b) information whether only citizens, and/or residents of, and/or legal persons

established in the territory of your Member State have access to the portal, or such

access is granted to foreign citizens and/or non-residents and legal persons

established in the territory of another Member State and whether lawyers or

representatives from other Member States are also granted access to the national IT

portals,

(c) for what purpose the portal could be used,

(d) what methods of identification of the users are used,

(e) what special requirements for the use of the portal there are, if any.

Member States are also invited to communicate any other information that they deem

necessary and that could help users of the national IT portals, in particular those who may

want to use it from another Member State.

Article 17(1)(b) – National laws on videoconferencing in civil and commercial

matters. The information in this section should give sufficient information to the persons

who will participate in videoconferencing about the national law and procedures that would

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make their participation in the remote hearing possible. The information should include

the following:

(a) information about the applicable national laws and procedures, including

applicable procedural rights and safeguards, for conducting the hearing through

videoconferencing or other distance communication technology;

(b) information whether only courts are allowed to hold videoconferencing under

Article 5 of the Digitalisation Regulation or whether this possibility exists also for

other authorities. In case other authorities could also use Article 5 as a legal basis

to organise videoconferencing, please specify which are these authorities and for

which proceedings;

(c) information whether your national law allows for the court or the competent

authority to schedule a hearing of its own motion;

(d) information about the videoconferencing technology available in your Member

State or the most common videoconferencing platform/solution used;

(e) information about the procedural requirements for the party to submit an opinion

on the use of videoconferencing or other distance communication technology for

the hearing;

(f) information whether your national law provides for recording of the hearing and if

provided for, information on storage and dissemination of the recording;

(g) information about how the lawyer-client confidentiality of communication is

ensured before and during the videoconference;

(h) information about the practical arrangements for organising and conducting the

hearing, including information whether speech-to-text technologies are used;

(i) information about the access to videoconferencing for the parties and their

representatives, including persons with disabilities;

(j) how the parties are identified and authenticated;

(k) how the parties could ask questions and otherwise meaningfully participate;

(l) how the parties benefit from the right to interpretation;

(m) how the possibility to examine or present physical evidence during the

videoconference is ensured; and

(n) how unauthorised access to sensitive data or data flows to unknown entities is

prevented.

The description of national laws and procedures should be as detailed as possible in order

to help the persons who will participate in videoconferencing. Information in other Union

languages containing guidance to participants for their equal and full participation in the

hearing would be of great value for the persons who will take part in videoconferencing;

where available, links to such information should also be provided.

In addition, it would be of particular help to the participants to the videoconference to know

the technical requirements, if any, which the participants need to meet, for instance in order

to be sure that the connection is stable and of sufficiently high audiovisual quality as well

as the modalities for the interpreters to assist a party that does not speak the language of

the court.

Article 17(1)(b) - National law on videoconferencing in criminal matters.

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The information in this section should give sufficient information to the suspect or the

accused or convicted person, or the affected person as defined in Article 2(10) of

Regulation (EU) 2018/1805, who will participate in videoconferencing, about the

procedural requirements of national law that would govern their participation in the remote

hearing. Member States’ input should include at least:

(a) information about the applicable national laws and procedures, including applicable

procedural rights and safeguards, for conducting the hearing through

videoconferencing or other distance communication technology;

(b) information about the procedural requirements for giving consent for the use of

videoconferencing or other distance communication technology for the hearing;

(c) information about how access is ensured to the necessary videoconferencing

infrastructure for the suspect or the accused or convicted person, or the affected

person, as defined in Article 2(10) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1805, including with

respect to persons with disabilities;

(d) information about how the lawyer-client confidentiality of communication is

ensured before and during the hearing by videoconferencing;

(e) information about how the holders of parental responsibility or other appropriate

adults are informed about the hearing of a child through videoconferencing or other

distance communication technology - how is the best interest of the child taken into

account?

(f) information on whether your national law provides for recordings of the hearing,

and if provided for, information on storage and dissemination of the recording;

information whether speech-to-text technologies are used;

(g) information about the available remedies under your national law that a suspect, an

accused or convicted person or an affected person could seek in the event of a breach

of the requirements or guarantees provided for in Article 6 of the Digitalisation

Regulation;

(h) information about the videoconferencing technology available in your Member

State or the most common videoconferencing platform/solution used;

(i) information about the practical arrangements for organising and conducting the

hearing. Notably, which authority should be contacted? Are there special

requirements (e.g. necessary information to be provided) for contacting that

authority?

(j) whether speech-to-text technologies are used in the context of hearings;

(k) how the suspect, accused, convicted or affected person is identified and

authenticated;

(l) how the suspect, accused, convicted or affected person can ask questions and

otherwise meaningfully participate;

(m) how the suspect, accused, convicted or affected person can benefit from the right to

interpretation, and

(n) how unauthorised access to sensitive data or data flows to unknown entities is

prevented.

The description of national laws and procedures should be as detailed as possible in order

for that information to be of tangible use to the suspect, accused or convicted person or

affected person participating in a hearing via videoconference. For instance, information

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in other Union languages containing guidance to participants for their equal and full

participation in the hearing would be of a great value for the suspect, accused or convicted

person or an affected person that will take part in a hearing via videoconference.

Article 17(1)(c) - Fees for the procedures in civil and commercial matters. The

information in this subsection should cover the fees for the proceedings where the

European electronic access point could be used. These are:

(a) the procedures provided for in Regulations (EC) No 1896/2006, (EC) No 861/2007,

(EU) No 655/2014 and Regulation (EC) No 805/2004;

(b) proceedings for recognition, a declaration of enforceability or refusal of recognition

provided for in Regulations (EU) No 650/2012, (EU) No 1215/2012 and (EU) No

606/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulations

(EC) No 4/2009, (EU) 2016/1103, (EU) 2016/1104 and (EU) 2019/1111;

(c) procedures related to the issuance, rectification and withdrawal of extracts provided

for in Regulation (EC) No 4/2009, the European Successions Certificate and the

attestations provided for in Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, certificates provided for

in Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012, certificates provided for in Regulation (EU) No

606/2013, attestations provided for in Regulation (EU) 2016/1103, attestations

provided for in Regulation (EU) 2016/1104 and certificates provided for in

Regulation (EU) 2019/1111;

(d) proceedings initiated by a claim by a foreign creditor in insolvency proceedings

under Article 53 of Regulation (EU) 2015/848;

(e) communication between natural or legal persons or their representatives with the

Central Authorities under Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 and Regulation (EU)

2019/1111 or the competent authorities under Chapter IV of Directive 2003/8/EC.

The information should include the amount of the fee or the method for calculation in case

it is not a fixed amount.

Article 17(1)(d) - Electronic payment methods. The information in this section should

contain information about the electronic means for payment available in your Member

State such as credit cards, debit cards, e-wallet and bank transfers. The information should

also include the measures that your Member State has taken to make these electronic

payment means accessible. In case a bank transfer is among the means of payment in your

Member State and if there is a single bank account for all authorities where the payment

should be made, the details of this bank account should also be provided. The information

should also provide details about possible restriction of the electronic payment methods to

only certain proceedings (and specify which ones if that would be the case) and about the

possibility to use the electronic payment methods for other purposes, such as payment of

court-imposed fines, expenses for experts or costs for witnesses.

Article 17(2) - Notification on the early use of the decentralised IT-system. The

information in this subsection should serve as an indication to the other Member States if

the notifying Member State is in a position to use the decentralised IT system prior to the

date of application determined in accordance with Article 26(3) in connection to Article

10(3) of the Digitalisation Regulation, i.e. for the implementing acts of the first batch the

latest date of application would be 17 January 2028; for the second batch – 17 January

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2029; for the third batch – 17 January 2030 and for the fourth batch – 17 January 2031 at

the latest.

Article 17(2) - Notification on the early use of videoconferencing in civil and

commercial matters. The information in this subsection should serve as an indication to

the other Member States if the notifying Member State is in a position to apply Article 5

of the Digitalisation Regulation prior to 1 May 2025.

Article 17(2) - Notification on the early use of videoconferencing in criminal matters.

The information in this subsection should serve as an indication to the other Member States

if the notifying Member State is in a position to apply Article 6 of the Digitalisation

Regulation prior to 1 May 2025.

II. Notifications pursuant to Article 17(1)(e)

Pursuant to Article 17(1)(e) Member States must notify their national competent authorities

in the context of the legal acts listed in Annex I (civil and commercial matters) and II

(criminal matters) of the Digitalisation Regulation, which have not already been notified

to the Commission. Please note that where, in view of the specific provisions of the legal

acts listed in Annex II of the Regulation, Member States have already notified the General

Secretariat of the Council or the Commission, as the case may be, there is no need to notify

again.

In terms of practical arrangements:

(a) In civil and commercial matters (Annex I of the Digitalisation Regulation), these

authorities should be notified through the Court Database (CDB) (2).

(b) In criminal matters (Annex II of the Regulation), these authorities should be

notified to the Commission via letter/e-mail for subsequent publication on the web

site of the European Judicial Network in criminal matters (to which a link is

provided on the European e-Justice Portal). The notifications should be sent to the

following e-mail: [email protected] .

Experience has shown that in the context of the work of the various formations of the

Digitalisation of Judicial Cooperation Committee focussing on the digitalisation of the

legal acts listed in Annexes I and II of the Regulation, specific notification needs may arise.

Going forward, the Commission services will indicate such needs whenever necessary.

(2) Member States received guidance about the process at the meeting of the e-Justice CWP and a

separate presentation for the Court Database administrators will be delivered in June 2024.

Electronically signed on 12/06/2024 15:49 (UTC+02) in accordance with Article 11 of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/2121