Memo: European Parliament Committee backs rules to cut red tape for business and consumers in cross-border court cases

European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding, the EU's Justice Commissioner, has welcomed a vote by the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) to support her proposals to help businesses and consumers resolve cross-border legal disputes more easily. The Committee voted to back the reform of rules to determine which national court has jurisdiction in cross-border cases and how court judgements issued in one EU country are recognised and enforced in another.

The legislation proposed by the Commission in December 2010 aims to strengthen the Single Market and cut red tape. It proposes to abolish the costly "exequatur" procedure which requires companies to first go through a time-consuming and costly procedure in courts to get a judgement in civil and commercial matters recognised in another EU country. Abolishing this administrative procedure is expected to save businesses and consumers up to EUR 48 million a year. The Committee's report will now pass to the European Parliament's plenary session which is expected to vote on the proposal in November 2012.