Council Decision of 28 May 2001 establishing a European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters (2001/470/EC)

Article 5 U.K. Contact points

1. The contact points shall be at the disposal of the authorities referred to in Article 2(1)(b) to (d) for the accomplishment of the tasks provided for by Article 3.

The contact points shall also be at the disposal of the local judicial authorities in their own Member State for the same purposes, in accordance with rules to be determined by each Member State.

[F1 2. In particular, the contact points shall:

(a) ensure that the local judicial authorities receive general information concerning the Community and international instruments relating to judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters. In particular, they shall ensure that the Network, including the website of the Network, is better known to the local judicial authorities;

(b) supply the other contact points, the authorities mentioned in Article 2(1)(b) to (d) and the local judicial authorities in their own Member State with all the information needed for sound judicial cooperation between the Member States in accordance with Article 3, in order to assist them in preparing operable requests for judicial cooperation and in establishing the most appropriate direct contacts;

(c) supply any information to facilitate the application of the law of another Member State that is applicable under a Community or international instrument. To this end, the contact point to which such a request is addressed may draw on the support of any of the other authorities in its Member State referred to in Article 2 in order to supply the information requested. The information contained in the reply shall not be binding on the contact point, the authorities consulted or the authority which made the request;

(d) seek solutions to difficulties arising on the occasion of a request for judicial cooperation, without prejudice to paragraph 4 of this Article and to Article 6;

(e) facilitate coordination of the processing of requests for judicial cooperation in the relevant Member State, in particular where several requests from the judicial authorities in that Member State fall to be executed in another Member State;

(f) contribute to generally informing the public, through the Network’s website, on judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters in the European Union, on relevant Community and international instruments and on the domestic law of the Member States, with particular reference to access to justice;

(g) collaborate in the organisation of, and participate in, the meetings referred to in Article 9;

(h) assist with the preparation and updating of the information referred to in Title III, and in particular with the information system for the public, in accordance with the rules laid down in that Title;

(i) ensure coordination between members of the Network at national level;

(j) draw up a two-yearly report on their activities, including, where appropriate, best practice in the Network, submit it at a meeting of the members of the Network, and draw specific attention to possible improvements in the Network.]

3. Where a contact point receives a request for information from another member of the Network to which it is unable to respond, it shall forward it to the contact point or the member of the Network which is best able to respond to it. The contact point shall remain available for any such assistance as may be useful for subsequent contacts.

4. In areas where Community or international instruments governing judicial cooperation already provide for the designation of authorities responsible for facilitating judicial cooperation, contact points shall address requesters to such authorities.

Textual Amendments

F1 Substituted by Decision No 568/2009/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2009 amending Council Decision 2001/470/EC establishing a European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters.