Diversity of Enforcement Titles in the EU

This book examines the diversity of enforcement titles in cross-border debt collection, focusing on the types, structure, contents and effects of enforcement titles. It offers a comprehensive overview of judgments, court settlements and authentic instruments from a variety of EU Member States. It primarily employs the comparative legal method to draw conclusions on commonalities and differences, as well as prospects for future approximation of laws.

The premise of the research is rooted in the finding that national authorities of EU Member States continue to treat enforcement titles from other Member States with reservations and mistrust despite being committed to the principle of mutual trust. The book identifies the issues of mistrust stemming from the diversity of enforcement titles. The research is based on a rich database of national reports compiled during the course of several large-scale EU Justice Projects.

Divided into five parts, the book offers first some general considerations and presents attempts at a systemisation of enforcement titles. The following parts are then devoted to more specialised approaches toward the different types of enforcement titles. However, the connecting line between all parts of the book are the considerations of cross-border enforcement in the EU (and in a limited manner with third States). Herein, research also addresses critical factors regarding the free movement of judgments in the EU, including those of lis pendens and related actions.

This book provides a valuable contribution to the Theory of European Civil Procedure. Since it is based on a comparative approach and employs both empirical and doctrinal viewpoints, it should also greatly benefit practitioners involved in cross-border dispute resolution. Overall, the findings should be of interest to a broad audience, including policymakers, judges, practitioners and scholars.

Prof. dr. Vesna Rijavec is vice-dean and full professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Maribor, Slovenia, where she holds the chair for Civil Procedure Law and teaches courses on European Civil Procedure, Civil Litigation, Non-Contentious Civil Proceedings and Arbitration Law. She has held numerous positions (e.g. member of the Slovenian judiciary council, former dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Maribor) and was involved in many academic exchanges and visiting lectures abroad (Graz, Hamburg, Gottingen, Kyoto etc.). Vesna Rijavec has coordinated several EU-Justice projects, the results of which helped shape EU legislation. Before entering academia she was employed as a judge at the district court in Maribor. At the national level, Vesna Rijavec is recognised as a leading authority in the area of civil procedure and private international law, having written a multitude of commentaries on those subjects and being involved in preparatory work on newor revised legislation.

Dr. Wendy Kennett is a professor at the University of Cardiff, UK, where she holds a Chair in the School of Law and Politics. She completed her undergraduate studies at New Hall, Cambridge and postgraduate study as a William Senior student at Clare College. Wendy Kennett obtained her doctorate at Cambridge University. She previously taught at the universities of Nottingham, Cambridge and Keele and the University of Central Lancashire, Cyprus. Her primary research interest is the field of Comparative Law and European Civil Procedure. She contributed to the ELI/UNIDROIT Model European Rules of Civil Procedure and is currently participating in a global project on Comparative Procedural Law and Justice managed by the Max-Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law. At the national level, Wendy Kennet has participated in work to reform the law on civil enforcement and to raise standards in the enforcement industry.

Prof. dr. Tomaž Keresteš is the dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Maribor, Slovenia, where he holds the chair for jurisprudence, philosophy of law and theory of law. He is also the head of the Institute for the Economic Analysis of Law and the former head of the Department for Fundamental Juridical Sciences at the same Faculty. In addition, Tomaž Keresteš is a visiting professor at the Portucalense University (Portugal). He studied law at the University of Maribor and the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest (Hungary). In 2003, he was awarded his doctorate (PhD) at the University of Maribor. Tomaž Keresteš has authored numerous contributions in the field of EU civil procedure and taken part in several research projects on the subject.

Prof. dr. Tjaša Ivanc is full professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Maribor, Slovenia. Her primary areas of research are European Civil Procedure Law, Civil Litigation and Civil Enforcement Law. In addition to a variety of domestic research projects, Tjaša Ivanc has coordinated several research projects funded by the Justice Programme of the European Union and authored as well as co-authored a number of monographs and articles in her areas of research. She successfully coordinated the project »Train to Enforce - Train 2 EN4CE« (JUST-AG-2018/JUST-JTRA-EJTR-AG-2018), aimed at improving the knowledge of practitioners on EU instruments for cross-border debt collection, in particular the European small claims procedure (Regulation No. 861/2007) and the European order for payment procedure (Regulation No. 1896/2006). Some of the results of the project are published video materials and a Casebook on the European order for payment procedure and European small claims procedure for promoting self-learning on cross-border debt collection of lawyers. These are freely accessible on the project website.