An attractive program
At the time of opening of the meeting under the high presidency of the Minister for Justice of Portugal, Mr. Alberto Costa, Jacques Isnard, President of the UIHJ, was delighted by the attractive and appropriate program of an opening towards Europe prepared by the Portuguese Solicitadores.
He challenged them on their statute which does not make them public and ministerial officers and drew their attention to their position as regards the Directive 2006/123/CE relating to the freedom of establishment of services in the internal market, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on November 12, 2006, referred to as the “Services directive”.
He then insisted on the recommendation Rec(2003)17 of September 9, 2003 of the Committee of the Ministers of the Council of Europe to the Member States as regards enforcement. This recommendation sticks to the structures of the judicial officers and provides that each State must delimit the relations between judicial officers and judges to insist on the fact that, when, as to Portugal, the activities of enforcement are directed and controlled by the judge, slowness, which causes inefficiency, appears and harms the good execution of the judgments.
Eight workshops
During these two rich and dense days, eight workshops followed one another. At the time of the first day, four topics were approached:
- The new mode of urban leases
- Procedures of attachment
- Distraint in Portugal, in Europe and on other continents
- International legal co-operation in civil and commercial matters
At the time of these last two topics, Francoise Andrieux (France), UIHJ expert, exposed the statute of liberal profession of enforcement agents. Adrian Stoïca (Romania), member of the board of the UIHJ, developed the principal characteristics of the Rumanian system. Roland de Meerleer (Belgium), member of the board of the UIHJ, treated the principal characteristics of the Belgian system. Eduardo Paiva, a Portuguese judge, evoked the principal characteristics of the Portuguese system. Mayela Celis, representing the permanent office of The Hague Conference on private international law, made a presentation of this organization and of The Hague convention of November 15, 1965 as regards service of documents abroad in civil and commercial matters. She was assisted by Laurence Thébault, lawyer, expert on this convention. Then, Roger Dujardin (Belgium), vice-president of the UIHJ, approached the Community acts which contribute to the area of freedom, security and justice from the point of view of the European law of enforcement. Maria Joao Henriques, lawyer at the ministry for the Justice of Portugal, presented the enforcement of decisions of foreign courts in Portugal.
The second day dealt with the national legislation relating to access to information and to and guarantee of the citizens, to the relation between society and justice, then with the simplification of the administrative procedures, and finally with the new functions of Solicitadores.
Antonio Gomes da Cunha, President of the National Chamber of Solicitadores, concluded the last working session with Juan Carlos Estevez, President of the General Council of the Spanish Procuradores, Jacques Isnard, president of the UIHJ and Joao Tiago da Silveira, State Secretary for Justice of Portugal.
