Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2001)221 - General framework for Community activities to facilitate the implementation of a European judicial area in civil matters - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2001)221 - General framework for Community activities to facilitate the implementation of a European judicial area in civil matters. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2001)221  |
| date | 15-05-2001 |
Contents
- 1.1. An area of freedom, security and justice
- 1.2. Judicial cooperation in civil matters
- 1.2.1. Overview of legislative activity
- 2. Previous actions - the Grotius and Grotius-civil programmes
- 3. The proposal for a Council Regulation
- 3.1. Articles
- Article 2
- Article 3
- Article 4
- Article 5
- Article 6
- Article 7
- Article 8
- Article 9
- Article 10
- Article 11
- Article 12
- Article 13
- Article 14
With the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the European Union set itself the objective to create an area of freedom, security and justice. In 1998, the Council adopted an Action Plan of the Council and the Commission on how best to implement the provisions of the Treaty of Amsterdam on an area of freedom, security and justice. The Action Plan, which was submitted in December 1998 to the European Council in Vienna, lists a number of priorities to be achieved within five years of the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam. In Tampere on 15 and 16 October 1999, the European Council reaffirmed the importance of this objective and agreed on a number of policy orientations and priorities to speedily make this area a reality. The European Council also invited the Commission to make a proposal for 'anappropriate scoreboard' in order to 'keep under constant review progress made towards implementing the necessary measures and meeting the deadlines' set by the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Vienna Action Plan and the Tampere conclusions.
In response to this invitation, the Commission presented a Communication entitled 'Scoreboard to review progress on the creation of an area of freedom, security and justice in the European Union', of which the last biannual update was adopted 30 November 2000 i. The Scoreboard lists the objectives, responsible institutions(s), actions, timetable for adoption (until 2004) and the current state of play for each action. In civil matters, a total of 18 main actions are listed in the latest version of the Scoreboard.
The entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam entailed the transfer of judicial cooperation in civil matters from the third pillar (Article K.1 i TEU) to the first pillar (Article 61(c) TEC). The overriding aim is to create a European judicial area in civil matters, where citizens have a common sense of justice throughout the Union and where justice is seen as facilitating the day-to-day life of people. This includes improving access to justice and full judicial cooperation between the Member States. Individuals and business must be able to approach courts and authorities in any Member State as easily as in their own, and not be prevented or discouraged from exercising their rights by the complexity of the legal and administrative systems in the Member States.
Equally important is that legal certainty is provided to individuals and business; to that end, judgments and decisions should be respected and enforced throughout the Union. Enhanced mutual recognition of judicial decisions and judgments and the necessary approximation of legislation will facilitate cooperation between authorities and the judicial protection of individual rights. To that end, better compatibility and more convergence between the legal systems must be achieved also.
On 30 November 2000, also in response to the Tampere conclusions, the Council adopted a joint programme of the Council and the Commission of measures for implementation of the principle of mutual recognition of decisions in civil and commercial matters. The programme lists a number of measures to be taken to extend the principle of mutual recognition to all the areas related to civil and commercial matters by abolishing all intermediate procedures for recognition and execution of foreign judgments and decisions.
A new step was taken at the Intergovernmental Conference in Nice on 11 December 2000, where it was agreed that decisions relating to judicial cooperation in civil matters (Article 65 TEC) will be taken by co-decision procedure, with qualified majority in the Council, as of when the Treaty of Nice enters into force.
Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, the Council had adopted the following acts by 31 December 2000:
* Council Regulation on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (44/2001, also called 'Brussels I');
* Council Regulation on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and in matters of parental responsibility for children of both spouses (1347/2000, also called 'Brussels II');
* Council Regulation on insolvency proceedings (1346/2000);
* Council Regulation on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil and commercial matters (1348/2000, also called 'Transmission of acts').
The following legislative proposals have been submitted to the Council:
* Proposal for a regulation on taking of evidence;
* Proposal for a regulation on rights of access to children.
A considerable number of further proposals for legislative acts could be foreseen on different subjects, such as: minimum standards of legal aid in cross-border cases; alternative dispute resolution; compensation for crime victims; parental responsibility; common procedural rules on small claims, uncontested claims and maintenance claims; minimum standards for specific aspects of civil procedure; jurisdiction and applicable law in matters concerning matrimonial property and succession; applicable law in contractual/non-contractual obligations; applicable law in matrimonial matters.
On 28 October 1996, the Council adopted a Joint Action on a programme of incentives and exchanges for legal practitioners (Grotius) i, on the basis of the former Article K.3 of the Treaty on European Union.
The purpose of the Grotius programme was to facilitate judicial cooperation between Member States by fostering mutual knowledge of legal and judicial systems. It was aimed at legal practitioners and provides funding for training, exchange and work-experience programmes, organization of meetings, studies and research, and the distribution of information. The programme was set up for the period 1996-2000, and the call for proposals for the last year was published in January 2000.
On 12 February 2001, the Council adopted a Regulation extending the Grotius programme, for a one-year transition period only, in the area of civil law (Grotius-civil) i. The aim of the extension was to avoid a disruption of the Grotius programme as concerns civil matters, and to allow the Commission to prepare a new global and comprehensive proposal for its replacement. The activities and objectives of the Grotius-civil programme are the same as those of the Grotius programme. The call for proposals for 2001 was published in February 2001 i.
The three annual reports from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council drawn up so far on the implementation of the Grotius programme i demonstrated its importance in strengthening judicial cooperation.
An external evaluation report carried out for the Commission was completed in March 2000, covering the years 1996-1998. The report confirmed the success of the programme, noting that no alternative mechanism exists and that demand had considerably exceeded supply in terms of financing, by between 350% and 550% per year. Main recommendations for the future involved better focussing on actions leading to operationally useful results and the need for measures to improve the dissemination of results from completed projects.
As described, rapid and extensive developments have taken place following the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam. The Community now has an ambitious agenda ahead of itself in the area of judicial cooperation in civil matters. Following an analysis of the Grotius programme, it has therefore been found that a wider and more general framework for activities is needed, to provide the support necessary for policy development in this field.
The proposed regulation establishes the legal basis for financing activities under the budget of the European Communities in the policy area of judicial cooperation in civil matters. It should not be seen as establishing a new action plan, but rather a general long-term framework for activities and prioritised objectives. On the basis of the framework, operational programmes and specific projects can be elaborated.
The objectives of the framework have been closely linked to those set by the Treaty, by the Vienna Action Plan and by the Tampere conclusions. Moreover, the new Community instruments adopted, or to be adopted, in this field, need appropriate monitoring to ensure that they are effectively implemented and applied. This is easily forgotten but equally important as adopting the instruments themselves, and has therefore been included as a separate objective.
In terms of activities supported, the new framework allows for the continuation of the types of actions supported under the Grotius programme, following its success, but it also goes further and has a wider scope. It allows for Commission actions to supplement the co-financed projects, to ensure that all political priorities will receive adequate and timely support, and it allows also for Commission actions of its own initiative to fulfil the objective of ensuring the sound implementation and application of Community instruments. In addition, the framework allows for support to organizations that continuously are active in judicial cooperation in civil matters, without necessarily carrying out specific projects. This possibility will further increase the flexibility of the framework.
Article 1
This Article establishes the framework for activities for the period 2002-2006 and sets out its overall political objective. It excludes Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom from the application of the Regulation, in accordance with their respective protocols annexed to the Treaty on European Union and the EC Treaty.
This Article lists the specific objectives of the framework for activities. The first objective is the cornerstone of the framework, with its direct connection to the policy of judicial cooperation in civil matters. The second objective is essential in providing the necessary basis for judicial cooperation, that is, mutual knowledge of legal systems. The third objective reflects the need to ensure the sound implementation and monitoring of Community instruments in this area. It should be noted that several of the regulations recently adopted contain obligations for the Commission to elaborate reports on the application of these instruments. The fourth objective reflects a priority of the Tampere conclusions; to ensure that progress in establishing an area of freedom and security is accessible and made known to the public.
This Article lists the types of activities that can be supported under the framework for activities and that all activities should meet at least one of the objectives in Article 2. Although the objectives are to a certain extent separate, projects could be foreseen that address several objectives, for example, both the first and the second. Actions taken by the Commission could be in relation to the objective of ensuring the sound implementation and monitoring of Community instruments in this area, through manuals, databases, publications and studies. The second type of activity consists of subsidies for running costs of non-governmental non-profit organisations, and the third type consists of subsidies for co-financing of specific projects with other sources in the public and/or private sector.
This Article opens up the framework for activities for participation of third countries, under the conditions listed in it. In view of enlargement, it has been considered important to give the accession countries the possibility to accede to the framework. Their participation in the framework could play a substantial role in their preparations for accession. They also have the possibility to participate in specific projects under the conditions in Article 6. As cooperation in justice and home affairs is not included in the EEA Agreement, the countries party to that agreement have not been expressly mentioned. However, Article 4 i opens the door for their participation at a later stage.
This Article describes the conditions for running costs grants to non-governmental non-profit organizations. The aim is to support organizations with a truly European dimension only; therefore, only those involving at least 10 Member States (of the present EU 15) will, as a general rule, be eligible.
This Article provides for co-financing of projects of the same type as those supported under the Grotius and the Grotius-civil programmes. The possibility to support projects aiming at creating organizations of the type described in Article 5 has been added in paragraph 2.
This Article refers to the authorisation of the annual appropriations for the framework for activities. It stipulates that co-financing from other Community programmes is excluded and specifies the maximum rate of co-financing from the Community budget within the framework for activities. As concerns financial support for the running costs of non-governmental organisations, the rate of co-financing has been limited to 50% to avoid a situation of dependency on Community grants. As concerns specific projects, the rate of co-financing has been lowered from 80% to 50% compared to the Grotius and Grotius-civil programmes, in order to bring about more accurate estimates of costs from the applicants and to mobilise more national co-financing. This should be feasible, as the start-up phase for those types of projects has been completed during the implementation of the Grotius programme.
Paragraphs 1 and 2 refer to the annual work programme. Strong emphasis will be placed on this programme, to ensure that the yearly-prioritised objectives follow the development of the Scoreboard. It will also be used to ensure a proper distribution between different types of activities over the course of the framework. Coordination with the Member States will be ensured through the Advisory Committee. The programme will be published each year, in the Official Journal and on the Internet.
Paragraph 3 lists the qualitative award criteria that will be applied when evaluating and selecting proposals. Problem-solving oriented projects will be a priority, as they will be most effective in contributing to policy development. In order to remedy the lack of dissemination of results under the Grotius programme, a high emphasis will be placed on what arrangements the applicants foresee to that effect. To avoid duplication with previous projects carried out under the Grotius and Grotius-civil programmes, complementarity of new proposals with those projects will be essential. To reduce the impact in terms of management capacity for the Commission and to ensure sufficient impact of the projects, priority will be given to large projects. Apart from the criteria listed in the paragraph, those stipulated by the Commission's Vademecum on Grant management will apply.
This Article stipulates that grant agreements (the Commission's standard Grant Agreement will be used) shall be concluded following all financing decisions under Article 3 i and i.
This Article lays down the principle provisions for monitoring the actions financed under the framework for activities. The basis will be provided by the reports from the beneficiaries upon completion of the projects. The evaluation report on the Grotius programme noted that many beneficiaries requested guidelines from the Commission on what the report should look like. The evaluation report also noted a large divergence in quality with regard to the final reports from the projects. In response to these findings, the Commission intends to develop a 'model' for the final reports, to be provided to all beneficiaries.
The first paragraph of the Article obliges the Commission to ensure the publicity of the activities financed, in line with the basic obligation contained in the Vademecum. The second paragraph foresees that the Commission, on a case-by-case basis, shall assess how the dissemination of the results of the projects can be promoted. As mentioned in relation to Article 8, a strong emphasis will be placed on such measures. A component on dissemination could be included in the co-financed project itself, the Commission could finance the appropriate dissemination of the results following completion of the project, or such activities could be the subject of a separate project.
This Article sets up the Advisory Committee that will assist the Commission in the implementation of the framework. Two committee meetings per year are foreseen; one on the annual work programme and one on the selection of proposals.
This Article specifies the sanctions that may be applied in the case of a beneficiary not meeting its obligations.
This Article specifies the two main reports on the framework that will be produced. The Commission will make an implementation report, a mid-term review, which will give the possibility to revise, if necessary, any implementing measures. The second report, which may be undertaken by an external party, will act as an ex-post evaluation to be ready in time for a possible renewal of the framework.