Considerations on Revising the Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters

The present study focuses on the need for reviewing the Regulation (EC) nr.44/2001 on removing exequatur procedure. On the basis of removing this special procedure it lays the Commission's report and the Green Book on applying the rule. It was meant to be within the legal framework of Europeanization of civil procedure and so far it has proved to be an effective instrument for settling litigations emerged in the Member States of the European Union. The rule is the "Queen" of community legislation as regards the procedure in civil and commercial matter in transboundary litigations. However, in applying the Rule it was found that the given judgments in a Member State are not “rightfully” recognized, but it was needed to go through the exequatur procedure, which differs from one Member State to another; it requires costs and time that prevent the creditor to recover its claim within a reasonable time. Therefore, the report on revising the Regulation and the Green Book has proposed, among others, the elimination of the exequatur procedure (granting enforcement) on passing judgments in the Member States of the European Union. However, eliminating this procedure requires the maintenance of procedural guarantees, such as special review, for fulfilling the protection right of the defendant. Regarding the special review, we consider that it is needed to focus on legislation harmonization of EU member states, in order to have a good judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters, so that the European citizens enjoy equal legal treatment in the courts of the Member States