From Common Rules to Best practices in European Civil Procedure (new book)
The present book is inspired by the shift in focus from the establishment of new legislation with common rules to the actual implementation, application, and operationalisation of the rules on cooperation in civil justice. With contributions from more than 20 experts from practice and academia this volume offers valuable blueprints for a reinvigorated judicial cooperation.
Civil procedure in the EU has entered a new era in which the development of common standards and best practices in the Member States and at the EU level are of the essence. While the discussion of common rules continues to be important and has regained importance as a result of the “common minimum standards” initiative of the European Parliament in 2017, some contributions to this book also focus on how to move beyond common rules and towards best practices. These “best practices” in applying European instruments, implementing new pathways to civil justice — including e-Justice, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and collective redress — and the operationalising of judicial cooperation, for instance through the European Consumer Centres and the European Judicial Network, give body to the principles of mutual trust and judicial cooperation. These can in turn feed the further development of the European civil procedure framework from the bottom up.
> Part I is a general part dedicated to common standards of EU civil procedure, focusing on the harmonisation of civil procedure and judicial cooperation in general. The central questions of this part concern whether there is a need for common standards of EU civil procedure, how to identify them, and whether we need harmonisation to achieve harmonious cooperation.
> The chapters included in Part II of the book are organised around the question as to whether and how innovative mechanisms for dispute resolution can enhance cooperation in the field of civil justice. E-Justice has been one of the spearheads of the European Commission to improve access to justice, with the establishment of the e-justice portal as the main achievement.
> Part III is dedicated to alternative dispute resolution. Encouraging and improving Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms, in particular for consumers, is another focal point in EU policy to simplify access to justice in recent years, and has resulted in the Directive on Consumer ADR48 and the Regulation on Consumer Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) along with the establishment of the ODR platform.
> Part IV includes a number of short chapters on best practices in the EU to operationalize judicial operation and to improve mutual trust.
