Proposal for a Council Decision authorizing Austria and Malta to accede to the Hague Convention of 15 November 1965 on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters in the interest of the European Union

The Hague Convention of 15 November 1965 on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters (hereinafter: the Hague Service Convention) provides for the channels of transmission to be used when a judicial or extrajudicial document has to be transmitted from one Contracting State to the Convention to another Contracting State for the service in the latter.

The Hague Service Convention simplifies the method of transmission of judicial and extrajudicial documents. The main channel of transmission, in lieu of consular and diplomatic channels, is through a Central Authority, who shall serve the documents or shall arrange to have them served. The Convention also provides for several alternative methods of transmission (e.g. postal channels). It also aims to establish a system which, to extent possible, brings actual notice of the document to be served to the recipient in sufficient time to enable him to defend himself. Furthermore, the Convention facilitates proof that the service has been affected abroad, by mean of certificates contained in a uniform model.

The Hague Service Convention falls within the exclusive external competence of the European Union following the adoption of the Union internal rules on service of documents in the Council Regulation (EC) No 1348/2000, repealed by the Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents), and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1348/2000. Consequently, the Member States cannot conclude the Hague Service Convention without being authorized to do so.

24 Member States had acceded to the Hague Service Convention before the adoption of EU legislation. The remaining Member States which have to be authorised to accede to the convention are Austria and Malta.

The Commission therefore proposes that the Council authorizes Austria and Malta to accede to the Hague Service Convention in the interest of the European Union. The Convention does not have a clause allowing the EU itself to accede.

EUR-Lex: COM(2013)338: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2013:338:FIN

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