On 28 September 2017, the European Commission has published the first strand of an evaluation study examining the national procedural laws and practices and their impact on the free circulation of judgments, and on the equivalence and effectiveness of the procedural protection of consumers under EU consumer law (JUST/2014/RCON/PR/CIVI/0082).
This first part of the study is dedicated to mutual trust and free circulation of judgments. The research carried out sought to identify whether divergences in national procedural laws and practices constitute obstacles to mutual trust. When such obstacles were identified, the analysis focuses on assessing the scale of these obstacles, and the areas in which further actions need to be taken in order to enhance legal certainty for businesses and citizens involved in cross-border litigation.
The study carried out in 2016 was coordinated by the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg (MPI) and involved an international consortium of top European universities () and academics.
The evaluation published by the European Commission is the most comprehensive, extensive, and in-depth comparative and empirically-driven investigation of national civil procedure laws and practices in the 28 Member States and on the enforcement of EU law to date.
The study can be downloaded from the EU Law and Publications portal.
