Cross-Border Debt Recovery: EU Proceedings

Are you a lawyer, civil servant, or national judge seeking to enhance your understanding of EU cross-border debt recovery?

The EU has created specific instruments designed to facilitate the cross-border recovery of civil and commercial claims. These instruments are the European Order for Payments (EOP), the European Small Claims Procedure (ESCP), and the European Account Preservation Order (EAPO). While these three instruments are different, they share some common traits – they only apply in civil and commercial claims with a cross-border dimension. They all rely on pre-established standard forms and are mainly written proceedings. Furthermore, they are an alternative to equivalent national civil proceedings, such as national order for payments or domestic freezing orders of bank accounts.

The purpose of the course is two-fold: to familiarise participants with the main characteristics and structure of the EOP, ESCP, and EAPO proceedings, and to shed light on the main issues practitioners and judges can encounter while using these instruments in practice.

Our experts will delve into:

• the effective use of the EOP, ESCP, and EAPO proceedings from a practical perspective
• the prerequisites that claimants will encounter when they submit an application such as establishing the jurisdiction
• how to complete a standard form through the e-Justice portal

From the defendants’ perspective, the course will offer:

• different strategies to use the remedies available to contest, to oppose, or contest the claim.
• attention to the divergences when they are applied in one Member State compared to another.

This course will help the participant to become acquainted with the EOP, the ESCP, and the EAPO, explaining the major differences that the application of these instruments would cause from one Member State to another.

Taking a realistic approach and using practical examples, the course will provide participants with knowledge about:

• the common traits of the EOP, the ESCP, and the EAPO;
• the formal and material prerequisites to apply for an EOP, an ESCP, and an EAPO;
• the defendants’ remedies against an EOP, the ESCP, and the EAPO;
• based on national practice, the main issues that judges and practitioners might encounter while using these instruments;
• which aspects of the EOP, the ESCP, and the EAPO depend on the national law of the Member States;
• the divergences in the application of the EOP, the ESCP, and the EAPO from one Member State to another;
• how has the European Court of Justice interpreted these instruments and how such interpretation affects the way these instruments are applied in practice.