The European Enforcement Order (EEO) is a method of
enforcing foreign judgments within the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
without the need of any intermediate proceedings, such as
exequatur. The procedure was established by
Council Regulation
A regulation is a legal act of the European Union that becomes immediately enforceable as law in all member states simultaneously. Regulations can be distinguished from directives which, at least in principle, need to be transposed into natio ...
(EC) 805/2004 of 21 April 2004 and came into force on 21 October 2005.
Regulation
The EEO is applicable only in relation to uncontested claims. Uncontested claims are defined in Article 3 of the regulation as one of the following:
# the debtor has expressly agreed to it by admission or by means of a settlement which has been approved by a court or concluded before a court in the course of proceedings; or
# the debtor has never objected to it, in compliance with the relevant procedural requirements under the law of the Member State of origin (where judgment was given or the claim arose); or
# after initial objection, the debtor has never appeared or been represented at court, provided that such conduct amounts to a tacit admission of the claim or of the facts alleged by the creditor under the law of the Member State of origin; or
# the debtor has expressly agreed to it in an “authentic instrument” i.e. a document whose contents and signature have been ‘authenticated’ by a public authority.
The regulation provides a mechanism whereby if the defendant objects to the use of the EEO, the matter can become a Court case which can then be defended.
The EEO can be only be used in
civil
Civil may refer to:
*Civic virtue, or civility
*Civil action, or lawsuit
* Civil affairs
*Civil and political rights
*Civil disobedience
*Civil engineering
*Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism
*Civilian, someone not a membe ...
or commercial matters
and specifically does not apply to the status or legal capacity of natural persons, rights in property arising out of a matrimonial relationship,
will
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will
...
s and
succession
Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence.
Governance and politics
*Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...
;
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
, proceedings relating to the winding-up of
insolvent
In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company (debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet inso ...
companies or other legal persons, judicial arrangements, compositions and analogous proceedings;
social security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
;
arbitration
Arbitration is a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) that resolves disputes outside the judiciary courts. The dispute will be decided by one or more persons (the 'arbitrators', 'arbiters' or 'arbitral tribunal'), which renders the ' ...
. However, Article 10 of Regulation 805/2004 requires that any application to rectify or withdraw a European Enforcement Order; whether upon any of the above bases or on any other basis; may only be made by application to the court of origin which made the European Enforcement Order Certificate (EEOC) in the first place – that is to say, any such application to withdraw or rectify an EEOC may only be made before the court of the State of Origin which originally made the EEOC. The effect of these provisions and the intention, is to prevent judgment debtors challenging European Enforcement Orders in the State of Enforcement without first having recourse to the State of Origin where the EEOC was originally made. The only exceptions to this general rule arise under Article 21 of Regulation 805/2004 which allows judgment debtors to challenge an EEOC if there has been an earlier judgment pre-dating the judgment forming the basis of the EEOC, which involved the same parties and the same cause of action and which is irreconcilable with the EEOC and/or where the EEO Certificate itself is plainly defective because the Court of Origin which made the EEOC failed to comply with the minimum standards for making EEOCs as set out in Regulation 805/2004. An example of a failure to comply with minimum standards would be where the Court of Origin failed to tick all of the boxes demonstrating that service was properly effected on the judgment debtor.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Text of Regulation 805/2004
Civil procedure
Judicial cooperation in civil matters in the European Union
2004 in the European Union
2004 in law
European Union regulations