UK presidency of the European Union
From 1 July to 31 December 2005, the UK held the presidency of European Union. We worked closely with the Home Office during the presidency to take forward work in the field of justice and home affairs. We approached the presidency with the aim of raising the political profile of civil justice within the broader justice and home affairs agenda and sought to demonstrate that this field of activity has a major part to play in improving the lives of citizens.
Our involvement in the presidency
Current projects
Events
Useful links
Our involvement in the presidency
The Hague
Programme, agreed by the European Council in November 2004, sets out
the work programme for the next five years. We have responsibility for three
main areas of European Union business:
-
Civil justice
-
Data protection
-
Human rights
Judicial co-operation in civil matters is an increasingly important and
prominent part of the wider justice and home affairs agenda of the European
Union. It aims to make it easier for citizens and businesses to exercise
their rights in other countries by promoting co-operation between the legal
systems of the 25 member states.
This primarily takes the form of mutual recognition of judgments (so that
a judgment delivered by a court in one country can be enforced in another)
and improved access to justice across European borders.
There is also more technical work to provide agreed rules concerning which
country's courts should have jurisdiction in cross-border cases and
which country's law should apply.
Current projects
During the UK presidency work was taken forward on a number of proposals
in the three areas of civil justice, data protection and human rights. The
current proposals include:
Civil justice proposals
-
European
small claims procedure:
This proposal will make it easier for citizens or business to make small
claims in cross-border cases, in circumstances where at present it can
be uneconomic to do so. It will not affect existing national small claims
systems.
-
European
order for payment procedure:
This will create a streamlined procedure for making uncontested debts
enforceable in other member states.
-
Directive
on certain aspects of mediation:
Increasingly people are choosing to settle cases out of courts. Mediation
is a way of bringing the two sides together with a third party to reach
agreement. The aim of this directive is to promote mediation, especially
in the cross-border context, by settling certain key questions. For example:
enforcement by the courts of agreements reached through mediation; whether
limitation periods continue to run when the parties seek mediation; and
what are the circumstances in which mediators can later be called upon
to give evidence.
-
Regulation
on the law applicable to non-contractual situations ("Rome II"):
This instrument will provide rules on which country's law should
apply in cross-border cases concerning "non-contractual" matters,
for example cases concerning personal injury. It will complement the 1980
Rome Convention on applicable law in contracts. A proposal to update
the 1980 Rome Convention may be brought forward during the UK presidency.
-
Family maintenance: The European Commission adopted a proposal on family maintenance on 15 December 2005.
- Proposed Regulation on the law applicable to contractual obligations (“Rome I”)
The proposed regulation aims to convert and modernise the 1980 Rome Convention into an EU Community Regulation. It makes provision for choice of law in specific cross border transactions including employment and consumer contracts. A new addition to the draft Regulation, to comprehensively cover insurance contracts, has recently been proposed. A consultation has been launched in conjunction with HM Treasury to examine the advantages/disadvantages of this.
Data protection proposals
The European Commission adopted a proposal for a Framework Decision on
the protection of personal data processed within police and judicial cooperation
in criminal matters on 4 October 2005. Discussions on the proposal will began
at working group level under the UK Presidency.
The proposals are available from the europa website
Human rights proposals
Events
We hosted and co-hosted the following events throughout the presidency, including Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Councils, an Informal JHA Council, and several conferences.
Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Councils and Informals
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12 - 13 October 2005, Luxembourg: JHA Council meeting
-
1 - 2 December 2005, Brussels: JHA Council meeting
-
8 - 9 September 2005, Newcastle: Informal JHA Council meeting
This is where the ministers responsible for Justice and Home Affairs
areas from all member states meet to discuss common issues in terms
of crime
and terrorism, immigration and asylum, civil judicial co-operation,
and the protection of human rights. There is further information on
the main
presidency
website.
European contract law conference
-
26 September 2005, London
This was part of the European
Commission's work on promoting better European legislation
through a "common frame of reference" in contract law.
This event was co-hosted by the European Commission and DCA, with
major City
sponsorship. It brought together for the first time the networks of member
states' experts and stakeholders who are overseeing the academic
work which has been commissioned on the common frame of reference,
with
international parliamentarians to give a steer to the direction of that
work. Lord Falconer spoke at the conference.
Justice for All conference
-
24 - 26 October 2005, Edinburgh
This conference focussed on the practical aspects of access to cross-border
justice. We co-hosted the event with the Scottish Executive and Lord
Falconer made the conference
key-note speech.
The conference highlighted the increasing importance of civil justice
in enabling the citizens of Europe to live, work, study, buy and sell
and do business across borders with the same security and ease of access
to justice as at home. There were sessions on:
- alternative ways of problem solving;
- e-justice;
- knowledge base and disseminating best practice: the role of the Civil Judicial Network;
- stream-lined court processes; and
- the future - how can we work together to make practical solutions benefit citizens.
Additionally, to mark the European
Day of Civil Justice, the
presentation of the award of the Crystal Scales of Justice for innovative
practice in civil law was made by the European Commission and the Council
of Europe. The winning project was, The Improvement of the Quality
of Justice in the Courts (Appeal Court of Rovaniemi in Finland).
Useful links
The
UK presidency of the European Union
The
European Commission: Freedom Security and Justice
The
Council of Europe
Home
Office UK Presidency pages
European
Judicial Network
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