Legal base	—
Department	Lord Chancellor's Department, Scottish Executive Justice Department
Basis of consideration	Minister's letter of 22 May 2003
Previous Committee Report	HC 63-xiii (2002-03), paragraph 6 (26 February 2003)
To be discussed in Council	No date set
Committee's assessment	Legally and politically important
Committee's decision	Cleared

Background

  21.1  When we considered the Green Paper on 26 February we noted that it was concerned with two subjects, the first being the possibility of instituting a European 'order for payment' procedure[42] and the second was the consideration of a simplified procedure for small claims. The Green Paper suggested that the question of whether a European 'order for payment' procedure should be confined to cross-border cases was open to discussion. In relation to small claims procedure the Green Paper also suggested that a European instrument on small claims procedure 'could be deemed useful also in cases of purely internal litigation'.

  21.2  We were concerned that the Green Paper appeared to be advocating measures which would apply to purely internal cases, requiring substantial revisions to the civil procedure of Member States and thereby to exceed the scope of Article 65 EC, which is concerned with judicial cooperation in civil matters having cross-border implications. We noted that the Ministers had also expressed these concerns, as well as a concern over subsidiarity which we shared. We asked the Ministers for an account of the views expressed in the course of the consultation they were about to conduct.

The Minister's reply

  21.3  In her letter of 22 May the Parliamentary Secretary at the Lord Chancellor's Department (Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC) informs us of the results of the consultation conducted with judges, practitioners and users of the court system in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Minister informs us that all favoured simplified procedures for 'order for payment' type proceedings and small claims, with costs kept low and with no requirement for the use of lawyers. Some of those consulted thought there should be a single procedure for both internal and cross-border cases, but not if current procedures for internal cases became more complicated as a result, whilst others thought that the procedures suggested in the Green Paper should only relate to cross-border cases.

  21.4  The Minister summarises the results of the consultation and the attitude the UK should take in response to the Green Paper as follows:

"Building on our effective systems the UK response suggests that for both order for payment and small claims the most effective and easily agreed proposals will be those based on mutual recognition of existing national systems with minimum standards where appropriate. We believe that efforts should be concentrated on making it easier for potential litigants to gain access to and make use of those systems through the provision of information, easily accessible forms available in all languages and greater use of information technology."

  21.5  The Minister has also supplied us with a copy of the United Kingdom's proposed response to the Green Paper. This makes the point that the UK is not persuaded of the need for a European order for payment procedure and notes that a number of other Member States have expressed a similar view. In the UK's view, cross-border cases are best dealt with by systems for mutual recognition and enforcement of orders obtained under the national procedures and any European initiative for small claims of the kind described in the Green Paper should be confined to cross-border cases. The UK suggests that the most useful approach in relation to small claims would be some form of link between Member States' systems for dealing with small claims, so as to allow a person in one Member State to use the small claims system of another.

Conclusion

  21.6  We are grateful to the Minister for her account of the consultation exercise which has been conducted throughout all the legal districts of the United Kingdom.

  21.7  We are also grateful to have been supplied with a copy of the United Kingdom's draft reply to the Green Paper. We agree with the points the Minister makes and are content to clear the document.