The 1st European Training Seminar on Cross-border Enforcement of Claims Opened by the Minister of Justice of Hungary

 

It was 13 months and exactly 652 e-mails ago that Hungary's Ministry of Public Administration and Justice invited the Hungarian Chamber of Judicial Officers, the Chamber of Civil Law Notaries and the UIHJ to submit a proposal for the European Commission's Civil Justice programme.

In accordance with the objectives set forth in the EU Stockholm Programme, the project entitled 'Questions Related to Cross-border Enforcement of Claims' aims at providing a systematic training for participating judicial officers and notaries by facilitating the understanding of current EU legal framework and new tendencies as well as fostering the creation of professional networks. The concept was to guarantee a training structure that enables participants to combine their theoretical and practical knowledge by encouraging lecturer-audience interaction. As a result, the number of participants was limited compared to traditional conferences, resulting in a university seminarish atmosphere.

The first training session was opened by Tibor Navracsics, Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary, Minister of Public Administration and Justice. He greeted the concept of this training, as it is in harmony with the government's initiatives of making Hungary a European centre for judicial cooperation and training. The same aspirations launched the Visegrad Group's semi-annual meetings, a further milestone is Budapest becoming a training hub for the EU's Unified Patent Court, and last, but not least, this very training series reinforces this tendency, too. Benefits and sometimes challenges of cross-border judicial cooperation provide an everyday experience for all of us, therefore it is our common interest to offer satisfying solutions - one stage of which is this present seminar.

Adam Toth, President of the Hungarian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries emphasized the importance of service of documents as a crucial element of payment orders and an indispensable tool for fast and efficient justice. He reported on an international project of notaries aiming at electronic transmission of authentic documents throughout Europe, a prerequisite of which is unifying the standards of electronic signature.

Miklos Krejniker, President of the Hungarian Chamber of Judicial Officers encouraged participants to study each other's legal systems in depth. He also enumerated some flagships of Hungarian IT development, including electronic payment order, e-auctioning, or the electronic search in banks' registers, the latter of which was awarded as the most successful Hungarian IT project of 2011 and may serve as inspiration for the National Tax and Customs Administration.

In his presentation, Leo Netten, president of the UIHJ provided an overview of judicial cooperation in civil matters throughout the European Union. The president of the UIHJ pointed out the importance of judicial enforcement in restoring balance at the end of proceedings, thus being an integral part of a fair trial. He cited the European Court of Human Rights, underlining the role of enforcement in ensuring the proper administration of justice and thus, the rule of law. However, intensifying exchange between European countries has led to a multiplication of conflicts. This is why the Tampere Summit set the goals of enhancing mutual recognition of judicial decisions and the necessary approximation of legislation by simplifying procedures. Today, not less than seven European Regulations serve cross-border enforcement of claims, the studying of which is the main objective of this training series as it is indispensable for fostering trust in the profession.

The current system of the service of judicial and extra-judicial documents in the EU was presented by Szabolcs Boreczky, Head of Division from the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice. Many consider service to be a small procedural step, neglecting the fact that the lack of proper, timely service of documents may jeopardize the recognition and enforcement of judgments, as it is evident from the European Court's case law.

Ferenc Csaszti, Vice-president of the Hungarian Chamber described the national system of service of documents. He contrasted unreliable postal service, especially problems arising from contesting deem of service with service by judicial officers. The relatively new service of payment orders and the Electronic Service System of Enforcement Documents (VIEKR) were presented, too.
The unique features of French service of documents, transmitting and receiving agencies, the necessity of translation and the rules on deadlines were thoroughly explained by Rose-Marie Bruno, huissier de justice from France.

The following day, the first lecturers were KBvG (Dutch Royal Chamber of Judicial Officers) President Johannes Martinus Wisseborn and Member of the Board Oscar Boeder, both from the Netherlands. Their presentation provided a perfect example of the diversity of national systems. Explaining down to earth cases, the audience could learn what to do when the addressee is homeless or is the Queen; whether a document can be given to a grandmother visiting the addressee, and it is no longer secret that should the addressee be underage, the documents can be served to the legal guardians by leaving a copy to the minor in the capacity of housemate of his legal guardians.

Last, but not least, Pal Sziranyi, secretary of Hungary's Permanent Representation to the EU pinpointed the key areas of judicial cooperation in the taking of evidence. No one left the conference hall without learning that in this legal field, international judicial assistance means neither legal advice nor financial support, but rather support by procedural acts. By the end, students could also differentiate between direct and classical methods of evidence taking - to name but a few examples.
In order to ease understanding, 20-minute question and answer sections were scheduled following each presentation, giving room for dialogue. Also, students had the possibility to fill a self-assessment quiz, which enabled them to check their factual knowledge gained through the two days of training.