For seven years now, the UIHJ organises the European Training Day of Judicial Officers. This year's event took place in the premises and with the support of the National Chamber of Judicial Officers of France.
Leo Netten, President of the UIHJ, welcomed the delegations from over twenty countries as well as academics and stakeholders. President Netten did not hide his pleasure in being hosted once again in the premises of the National Chamber of Judicial Officers of France. He thanked the new president of the judicial officers of France, Patrick Sannino for his invitation and warm hospitality. He called for strengthening ties between UIHJ and the National Chamber of Judicial Officers of France. He also thanked the President of the National School of Procedure of Paris, Jean-Michel Rouzaud, for his constant involvement in the training of judicial officers in Europe and in the world, alongside the UIHJ. President Sannino said he was delighted to welcome the UIHJ and the foreign delegations in the "House of the judicial officers of the world." He called in turn for a strengthening of ties between the UIHJ and the judicial officers of France. Then Jean- Michel Rouzaud welcomed the participants. He stressed the importance of education and training of judicial officers, an essential element in the development and sustainability of the profession worldwide.
Traditionally, the European training days include two workshops and a review of the European case law and legislative developments. The first workshop involved the application of European Regulation 805/2004 of 21 April 2004 creating a European Enforcement Order (EEO), the tenth anniversary of which we celebrate this year. Françoise Andrieux, General Secretary of the UIHJ, chaired it. Natalie Fricero, professor at the University of Nice (France), member of the Scientific Council of the UIHJ presented the EEO Regulation. Ms Fricero mentioned the various components of the Regulation, in particular its conditions of implementation. Regarding the service of documents initiating proceedings, Professor Fricero stated that the European Commission, in its report of 4 December 2013 on service of documents, evoked the idea of a concept of secured minimum standards. According to her, the EEO keeps an interest in the European Order for Payment, which is widespread in Europe. Representatives of five countries intervened: Belgium (Patrick Gielen, judicial officer), France (Françoise Andrieux), Scotland (David Walker, judicial officer, member of the board of the UIHJ), the Netherlands (Jos Uitdehaag, judicial officer, 1st secretary of the UIHJ), and Portugal (José Resende, President of the National Chamber of Solicitadores of Portugal). They shared their experience with EEO, a relatively limited experience, given the low volume of EEO in traffic and the complexity of its implementation.
Guillaume Payan, lecturer at the University of Toulon (France), UIHJ consultant, informed the participants of the annual European jurisprudence on the profession of judicial officer and on enforcement measures. Three cases relating to the Court of Justice of the European Union were discussed :
- ECJ, 1st ch, 14 March 2013, Mohamed Aziz v. Caixa d'Estalvis de Catalunya, Tarragona i Manresa ( CatalunyaCaixa ), C-415/11;
- ECJ, 14 November 2013, Banco Popular Español SA v. Maria Rivas Teodolinda Quichimbo Wilmar Cun Edgard Pérez, C-537/12;
- And ECJ, 14 November 2013, Banco de Valencia SA v. Joaquín Valldeperas Tortosa, María Angeles Jaume Miret, C-116/13 (joined cases).
On the European Court of Human Rights, three judgments also caught his attention:
- ECHR, 25 July 2013, Rousk v. Sweden, Req. No. 27183 /04;
- ECHR, 25 February 2014, Avotins v. Latvia, Req. No. 17502 /07;
- ECHR, 8 January 2013, SC Raisa M. Shipping SRL v.Romania, Req. No. 37576 /05.
The second workshop focused on prospective European legislation. It was chaired by Mathieu Chardon, 1st secretary of the UIHJ. At first, Dimitrios Tsikrikas, Professor at the University of Athens (Greece), presented the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 861/ 2007 of 11 July 2007 establishing a European Small Claims Procedure and Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 of 12 December 2006 creating a European Order for Payment procedure (EOP).
Then, a discussion was organised on the future European regulation concerning the seizure of bank accounts. Four countries reported on current practices and experience in their respective domestic law: France (Mathieu Chardon), Latvia (Guna Berlande, Executive Director of the National Chamber of Judicial Officers of Latvia), the Netherlands (Jeroen Nijenhuis, judicial officer, Legal Adviser at the Royal Chamber of Judicial officers of the Netherlands) and the Czech Republic (Michal Rudy, Vice- President of the National Chamber of Judicial Officers of the Czech Republic).
Finally, to conclude this intensive training day, Guillaume Payan gave a review of the year's dense European legislative developments. His presentation included three headings:
I. Transmission and service of documents
- REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE on the application of Regulation (EC) No 1393/ 2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters ("Service of documents"), COM(2013) 858 final, 4 December 2013.
- Proposal for a COUNCIL DECISION authorizing Austria and Malta to join in the interest of the European Union, the Hague Convention of 15 November 1965 on the service abroad of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil and commercial matters, COM ( 2013) 338 final, 6 June 2013.
II. Development and monitoring of EU multiannual programmes
- REPORT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT on the mid -term review of the Stockholm Programme (2013/2024 (INI)), 4 March 2014.
- REGULATION (EU) No 1382/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 17 December 2013 establishing a Justice Programme for the period 2014 to 2020, OJ L 354, 28 December 2013, p. 73.
- COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Draft European strategy on e-Justice for the period 2014 to 2018, OJ C 376, 21 December 2013, p. 7.
III. Evaluation of legal and judicial systems
- COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS COMMITTEE: The EU Justice Scoreboard: A tool to promote effective justice and growth, COM ( 2013) 160 final, 27 March 2013.
- COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE on Evaluating national regulations on access to professions, COM (2013) 676 final, 2 October 2013.
