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Option for quick and simple debt collection throughout the EU

06-10-2008

EC Regulation 1896/2006 creating a European order for payment procedure will take effect on 12 December 2008. This Regulation offers the option to claimants in any Member State to collect a debt in another EC country relatively easy. On 24 June 2008, the Dutch cabinet presented a Bill that contains the Dutch version of this new procedure.

As of 12 December 2008, in the event of cross-border cases within the EU, a claimant may apply by standard form (without representation by counsel) to a court in another Member State for a European order for payment. This court will then examine the application and, if all requirements have been satisfied, issue the order for payment. After service thereof on the defendant, the latter will have thirty days to contest the claim by means of completing and submitting a form, thus stopping the enforceability of the European order for payment. If he does so, the case will be transferred to ordinary civil proceedings, unless the claimant has explicitly requested that the proceedings be terminated in that event.

These new EU proceedings set no limit on the amount of the claim. However, it should be a pecuniary claim, arising from contract in civil law, which is payable and uncontested.

For more information, please contact Robert Hendrikse, Litigation and Insurance Practice, T: +31 (0)20 6789 502, E: hendrikse@van-doorne.com