Vesna Rijavec – författare

This book examines the diversity of enforcement titles in cross-border debt collection, focusing on the types, structure, contents and effects of enforcement titles. It offers a comprehensive overview of judgments, court settlements and authentic instruments from a variety of EU Member States. It primarily employs the comparative legal method to draw conclusions on commonalities and differences, as well as prospects for future approximation of laws.

The premise of the research is rooted in the finding that national authorities of EU Member States continue to treat enforcement titles from other Member States with reservations and mistrust despite being committed to the principle of mutual trust. The book identifies the issues of mistrust stemming from the diversity of enforcement titles. The research is based on a rich database of national reports compiled during the course of several large-scale EU Justice Projects.

Divided into five parts, the book offers first somegeneral considerations and presents attempts at a systemisation of enforcement titles. The following parts are then devoted to more specialised approaches toward the different types of enforcement titles. However, the connecting line between all parts of the book are the considerations of cross-border enforcement in the EU (and in a limited manner with third States). Herein, research also addresses critical factors regarding the free movement of judgments in the EU, including those of lis pendens and related actions.

This book provides a valuable contribution to the Theory of European Civil Procedure. Since it is based on a comparative approach and employs both empirical and doctrinal viewpoints, it should also greatly benefit practitioners involved in cross-border dispute resolution. Overall, the findings should be of interest to a broad audience, including policymakers, judges, practitioners and scholars.

Following the venerable principle that 舠justice delayed is justice denied舡, the European Council has called for 舠further reduction of the intermediate measures which are still required to enable the recognition and enforcement of a decision or judgment舡, and the Commission has also emphasised that the traditional exequatur required to enforce debt collection is an obstacle to the free circulation of judgments, entails unnecessary costs and delays for the parties, and discourages companies and citizens. However, even EU law cannot break the classic division between trial in the Member State of origin and enforcement in the Member State of enforcement. Efficiency of enforcement remains a national matter.

Greater efficiency in civil dispute resolution is very much dependent on organized but fair fact-finding. Under European law, however, no clear-cut categorisation of means of evidence exists as yet, and significantly diverging interpretations persist of what is considered ''evidence'' in the sense of the foundational Council Regulation (EC) No. 1206/2001 (EER). The EER fails to provide comprehensive rules for many other aspects of evidence taking, pointing instead to national legislation for solutions. As long as evidentiary rules remain different from country to country, there is an inherent risk of conflict of laws between different systems in the course of cooperation between courts in cross-border matters, leading to mistrust amongst judiciary and other participants in the proceedings.

Focusing on national rules, and using a comparative method which takes into consideration legal experiences from all legal circles in the EU, this book explains and analyses how the law of evidence works in Europe today. The authors draw on the vast base of relevant information collected in twenty-seven Member States by national reporters. Following the classical enumeration of types of evidence – production of documents, examination of witnesses, expert evidence, inspection by the judge, and examination of the parties – chapters encompass such issues and topics as the following.

The authors offer well-grounded recommendations on requested judge''s entitlements, direct and convenient communication, cost issues, revised provisions concerning language obstacles, unification of presumptions, and much more.

Armed with the wide-ranging knowledge presented here, practitioners handling civil cases anywhere in Europe will derive great practical benefit from this book. As a masterful synthesis of how evidence is used in national courts in EU Member States, and of how that use is changing, the book will be greatly valued as a unique resource by legal scholars and academics. With featured recommendations it can contribute to the development of mutual trust among the national courts inside the EU as well as trust among policymakers and national courts.

Greater efficiency in civil dispute resolution is very much dependent on organized but fair fact-finding. Under European law, however, no clear-cut categorisation of means of evidence exists as yet, and significantly diverging interpretations persist of what is considered ''evidence'' in the sense of the foundational Council Regulation (EC) No. 1206/2001 (EER). The EER fails to provide comprehensive rules for many other aspects of evidence taking, pointing instead to national legislation for solutions. As long as evidentiary rules remain different from country to country, there is an inherent risk of conflict of laws between different systems in the course of cooperation between courts in cross-border matters, leading to mistrust amongst judiciary and other participants in the proceedings.

Focusing on national rules, and using a comparative method which takes into consideration legal experiences from all legal circles in the EU, this book explains and analyses how the law of evidence works in Europe today. The authors draw on the vast base of relevant information collected in twenty-seven Member States by national reporters. Following the classical enumeration of types of evidence – production of documents, examination of witnesses, expert evidence, inspection by the judge, and examination of the parties – chapters encompass such issues and topics as the following.

The authors offer well-grounded recommendations on requested judge''s entitlements, direct and convenient communication, cost issues, revised provisions concerning language obstacles, unification of presumptions, and much more.

Armed with the wide-ranging knowledge presented here, practitioners handling civil cases anywhere in Europe will derive great practical benefit from this book. As a masterful synthesis of how evidence is used in national courts in EU Member States, and of how that use is changing, the book will be greatly valued as a unique resource by legal scholars and academics. With featured recommendations it can contribute to the development of mutual trust among the national courts inside the EU as well as trust among policymakers and national courts.

Brussels I Recast (Regulation No 1215/2012 on the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters) is intended to simplify and expedite cross-border enforcement of debts. However, some existing issues remain unresolved, and new ones have already been identi?ed since the Regulation entered into force in 2015. This collection of expert essays, the ?rst book to focus systematically and comprehensively on the area of remedies in the light of Brussels I Recast, offers detailed analyses of inherent problems and includes practical hypothetical cases illustrating major issues and how they may be resolved.

The aspects covered by the contributors – all well-known academics, lawyers, and judges from different EU Member States – include the following:

Because the success of Brussels I Recast depends on a very unpredictable implementation into national systems, the extent to which national barriers represent obstacles to fair and ef?cient judicial protection is thoroughly examined. A very useful concluding chapter presents practical cases highlighting the most important, as well as problematic, issues concerning enforcement of foreign judgments.

The in-depth analyses conducted by the contributors clearly de?ne serious obstacles and propose solutions that will lead to better implementation of Brussels I Recast, better protection of party''s rights, and further harmonisation in this ?eld of civil justice. This book is sure to be of exceptional value to counsel for multinational enterprises, EU and Member State legislators, enforcement agencies, and academics worldwide.