EU leaders have backed a provisional agreement reached with the European Parliament on new European Commission regulations aimed at making cross-border civil and commercial proceedings cheaper and more efficient.

The two commission proposals, put forward in May 2018, are aimed at modernising and digitalising judicial cooperation in cross-border civil and commercial cases throughout the EU.

Interconnected

Under one proposal covering the servicing of documents, transfer of documents must take place via an electronic decentralised IT system, composed of interconnected national IT systems.

Member states will be able to use software developed by the EU, instead of a nationally-developed IT system.

Videoconferencing

The second proposal is on the taking of evidence, with new rules promoting the use of videoconferencing or any other distance communication technology where a witness, party or expert located in another member state must be heard.

“This is excellent news for the growing number of EU citizens who settle in another EU country and businesses operating in other EU countries,” said commissioners Vĕra Jourová and Didier Reynders.