Council Regulation (EC) No. 1206/2001 of 28 May 2001 on cooperation between the courts of the Member States in the taking of evidence in civil or commercial matters is a

European Union 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 nation ...

in the field of judicial cooperation. It allows

taking of evidence Council Regulation (EC) No. 1206/2001 of 28 May 2001 on cooperation between the courts of the Member States in the taking of evidence in civil or commercial matters is a European Union regulation in the field of judicial cooperation. It allows tak ...

from one member state to another without recourse to

consular A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

and diplomatic channels. The regulation applies to all the member states of the European Union with the exception of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. The

2015 Danish European Union opt-out referendum A referendum on one of the country's opt-outs from the European Union was held in Denmark on 3 December 2015. Specifically, the referendum was on whether to convert Denmark's current full opt-out on home and justice matters into an opt-out with ...

, which would have opted-in, was rejected by the people of Denmark. Taking of evidence in civil cases prior to the regulation was done by either under the

Hague Evidence Convention The Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters—more commonly referred to as the Hague Evidence Convention—is a multilateral treaty which was drafted under the auspices of the Hague Conference on Private Internat ...

or by means of a ''

letter rogatory {{Short description, Formal request by a court to a foreign court for judicial assistance Letters rogatory or letters of request are a formal request from a court to a foreign court for some type of judicial assistance. The most common remedies soug ...

'' (also called a letter of request), a formal request from a

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

in one country to take evidence to another in which the

witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...

is domiciled. This formal document usually required transmission from the originating court to the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

(MFA) in the state of origin, who then forwarded it, possibly through various

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

, to the MFA in the destination state. The foreign MFA would then pass the documents to the judicial authorities in that state, who would then go about obtaining the required evidence. The evidence would then be returned via the same long winded channels. This regulation enables a somewhat simplified route by allowing direct contact between the

s in the member states. A standardised request form included in the annex to the regulation must be used. This aids the process by being widely recognised by the relevant authorities. The regulation also contains various articles to promote the use of communication technologies such as

telephone conferencing A conference call is a telephone call in which someone talks to several people at the same time. The conference call may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call or set up so that the called party merely listens into ...

and

videoconferencing Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...

External links

Text of the Regulation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evidence Regulation 2001 in law

Evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...

2001 in the European Union Judicial cooperation in civil matters in the European Union Evidence law