Upon request by the JURI Committee, this in-depth analysis examines the use of expert witness evidence and testimony in cross border legal actions and the comparison of the differing systems of law in which such litigation might take place. It further analyses how the common law system has successfully evolved to facilitate the employment of civil expert witnesses across the Member States of the European Union.

Upon request by the JURI Committee, this in-depth analysis examines the rules applicable to judicial experts in the Czech Republic as well as the possibilities of establishing a list of European experts in the EU. Judicial expertise in crossborder litigation in the Czech Republic may be performed only by experts registered in a special national public directory. The existing European legal standards do not provide any satisfactory solution for cooperation between the courts and an expert from another Member State. The solution lies in unification of the basic standards for selection of an expert as well as the processing of the expert opinion. It will then be possible to establish a single list of European experts, which would be based on the harmonised national lists.

Cross-Border Litigation in Central Europe EU Private International Law Before National Courts As a consequence of the ever-increasing intercourse within the enlarged and diverse European Union (EU), a growing number of businesses, consumers, and families rely on EU private international law instruments to seek justice in cross-border disputes. This invaluable reference book offers an in-depth understanding of this process in Central Europe and is the first to provide a comprehensive and analytical overview of the judicial practice in the region and to make this case law accessible in English. Presenting the results of a major EU-funded project (CEPIL), the book offers an insight into the reality of EU private international law and cross-border litigation in Central Europe: it provides a comprehensive and exhaustive presentation of the case law in 10 Central European Member States (Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia); it covers all fields of EU private international law (general civil and commercial, insolvency, family and succession matters); it inquires whether EU private international law functions optimally in the Central European Member States in order to secure a Europe of law and justice; it examines whether EU private international law instruments are applied in a correct and uniform manner and whether national courts deal appropriately with disputes having a cross-border element; it analyzes whether the current legal and institutional architecture is susceptible of securing legal certainty and an effective remedy for cross-border litigants. This important practical resource helps businesses, consumers, families and legal counsels engaged in cross-border mobility to gain access to essential information and analysis as to the application and interpretation of EU private international law in Central Europe. The book is also highly valuable to academics and researchers specializing in private international law by presenting the research findings of the CEPIL project.

Legal practitioners of today are dealing with cross-border disputes in civil and commercial matters in an increasingly complex transnational legal environment. This edition of Bruno Ristau's multi-volume work International Judicial Assistance brings these complexities to the fore. The revised and updated material offers background, explanations, and practical advice on how to deal with the most important challenges and recent developments in the field of transnational litigation, including issues related to the choice of forum, choice of law, service of process, proof of foreign law, discovery of evidence, and enforcement of judgments. Written by Stewart and Bowker, experts in public and private international law, this book offers insightful and comprehensive information on cross-border litigation by addressing issues in sequence as they are likely to be encountered in practice. A major focus is the mechanisms for international judicial cooperation and assistance, in particular those provided by regional and international arrangements such as the Hague Conventions on Service, Evidence and Apostilles, choice of court agreements, and the enforcement of judgments, as well as regional arrangements within the OAS and the EU. This book is a necessary addition for litigators in the U.S. and other common law jurisdictions who are involved in cross border disputes.

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. - judicial cooperation in cross-border cases; – general principles in evidence taking (the right to be heard, oral vs. written form, directness of evidence, burden of proof); – judges' case management powers regarding evidence; – means of evidence; – extent of influence of traditional principles and evidentiary rules on electronic evidence; – application of communication technology in cross-border proceedings; – legal costs; – language; – inadmissible evidence; and – instances in which a court can refuse a request for evidence. 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.

At head of title : European Commission Research Project on Judicial Cooperation in Matters of Intellectual Property and Information Technology.

Upon request by the JURI Committee, this in-depth analysis highlights the difficulties that parties may encounter in relation to an expert report ordered in civil litigation, and the urgent need to harmonise practices and procedures existing in the different Member States of the EU.

Globalization of legal traffic and the inherent necessity of having to litigate in foreign courts or to enforce judgments in other countries considerably complicate civil proceedings due to great differences in civil procedure. This may consequently jeopardize access to justice. This triggers the debate on the need for harmonization of civil procedure. In recent years, this debate has gained in importance because of new legislative and practical developments both at the European and the global level. This book discusses the globalization and harmonization of civil procedure from the angles of legal history, law and economics and (European) policy. Attention is paid to the interaction with private law and private international law, and European and global projects that aim at the harmonization of civil procedure or providing guidelines for fair and efficient adjudication. It further includes contributions that focus on globalization and harmonization of civil procedure from the viewpoint of eight different jurisdictions. This book is an unique combination of theory and practice and valuable for academic researchers in the area of civil procedure, private international law, international law as well as policy makers (national and EU), lawyers, judges and bailiffs.

Based upon empirical research, this work focuses on the structure and culture of cross-border legal interaction. It aims to describe the environment with which actors of cross-border exchanges are confronted and have to cope, and attempts to define the present and future role of domestic courts.