European Bailiff Meaning Europe

As we know, for the service of judicial and extra-judicial documents on the national territory, the judicial officer has a territorial competence extended to the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal within which he exercises his ministry. As a reminder, our office is thus competent on the whole of the Ile de France, because of its two offices in Nanterre and Paris. One might think that we are far from the European bailiff...

However, the situation is completely different with regard to recipients domiciled on the territory of one of the Member States of the European Union: the rules are indeed completely different thanks to the European Bailiff.

Thus, our study has become a European bailiff's study because of EC regulation n°1393/2007 of 13 November 2007 (which came into force on 30 December 2007), since we have since then the competence to transmit a document outside the national territory, a sort of "super" competence, not mattering the State of reception and the domicile of the applicant.

Thus, to effect service of judicial (summons, judgments etc.) or extra-judicial (leave, opposition, summons to pay etc.) documents, in the Member States of the European Union, in civil and commercial matters, including labour law, rural law, but excluding criminal or tax matters, administrative matters, with the exception of civil actions judged in the context of the latter. In other words, the Regulation applies to all private litigation.

Our study of "European Bailiff" is therefore competent to proceed to the delivery of these documents in the countries of the European Union, namely : 

 Germany. > Austria. > Belgium. > Bulgaria. > Cyprus. > Croatia. > Denmark. > Spain. > Estonia. > Finland. > France. > Greece. > Hungary. > Ireland. > Italy > Latvia. > Lithuania. > Luxembourg. > Malta. > The Netherlands. > Poland. > Portugal. > Czech Republic. > Romania. > United Kingdom. > Slovakia. > Slovenia. > Sweden.

In practice, our role is to transmit to the authority of the State concerned, the document to be issued, accompanied by a form which includes the essential particulars of the document. Our European bailiff's office then gives a certain date to the transmission of the document which, for the applicant, will be the date to be taken into account, as specified by the 2nd Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation on October 14, 2010, and draws up a deed. For the addressee, this will be the date of receipt of the document.

The Regulation has an advantage in that the translation of the document to be issued in a third State is not compulsory. Nevertheless, in order to guarantee the rights of defence, the 2007 European Regulation allows the addressee to refuse an untranslated document using a form provided for this purpose. It should be noted that under the previous Council Regulation (EC) No 1348/2000 of 29 May 2000, the CJEC had ruled in a "Weiss und Partner" case on 8 May 2008 that documents instituting proceedings must nevertheless be translated; a solution which has not been taken up in the Regulation currently in force and its various amendments, but which prudence nevertheless leads to apply.

In addition, once received, the competent authority in the third State will have to deliver the document within one month and return it to the French judicial officer, accompanied by a form for the completion or non-fulfilment of formalities. It may happen that the addressee has changed address, making it impossible to deliver the document.

Finally, this mode of transmission applies only if the addressee of the document has a known address. Where appropriate, ordinary law will have to be applied, and the document will be delivered to the public prosecutor's office.