The European Council meeting in Tampere in October 1999 approved the principle of judicial co–operation between Member States. When the Treaty of Amsterdam subsequently came into force, judicial co–operation in civil matters passed from the third to the first pillar. In cases with cross–border elements it was considered as being of importance to the proper functioning of the internal market (Articles 61(c) and 65 of the Treaty setting up the European Community).
Currently numerous legislative provisions in the form of regulations (and hence of direct effect) have been adopted in this area.
For all information relating to the implementation of the related regulations reference should be made to ATLAS, the European judicial atlas in civil matters. It allows simple and rapid access to information relevant to the conduct of all activities involved in judicial co–operation in civil matters (e.g. the identification of courts and the other competent authorities to which different kinds of applications can be made, finding and filling in forms for the forwarding of applications, changing the language in which they are drawn up before printing them out and sending them securely etc.).
An initial group of regulatory instruments is concerned with the identification of the common rules for:

• the determination of the courts with jurisdiction to adjudicate on a particular dispute;
• the simplification of procedures for the recognition of judgments of courts of Member States;
• the recognition of judgments by courts of Member States;

The regulations concerned are the following:

• EC Council Regulation 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters;

For information relating to the implementation of the regulation, reference should be made to ATLAS, the European judicial atlas in civil matters.

• EC Council Regulation 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 on parental responsibility approved during the six–month Italian EC Presidency repealing EC Council Regulation 1347/2000 of 29 May 2000 relating to jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and matters of parental responsibility for joint children. The Italian Central Authority for these issues is the Juvenile Justice Department.

For information relating to the implementation of the regulation, reference should be made to ATLAS, the European judicial atlas in civil matters.

• EC Council Regulation 1346/2000 of 29 May 2000 relating to insolvency procedures, laying down community law for the recognition, enforcement and determination of the law to be applied to insolvency procedures.
• European Parliament and EC Council Regulation 805/2004 of 21 April 2004 creating a European enforcement order for uncontested claims issued in one Member State without the need for intervention of the Member State in which the order is to be enforced. The information provided to the Commission pursuant to the provisions of the Regulation has still not been entered in ATLAS.

Other sets of Regulations have been instrumental in implementing judicial co–operation in the strict sense with the aim of facilitating the transmission of requests for service of documents and the obtaining of evidence abroad between courts or central authorities. The regulations involved are the following:

• EC Council Regulation 1348/2000 of 29 May 2000 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters.

For information relating to the implementation of the regulation, reference should be made to ATLAS, the European judicial atlas in civil matters.

• EC Council Regulation 1206/2001 of 28 May 2001 relating to co–operation between the judicial authorities of the Member States in the taking of evidence in civil and commercial matters. For information relating to the implementation of the regulation, reference should be made to ATLAS, the European judicial atlas in civil matters.

Judicial Network in Civil matters

On 18 May 2001 the Council decided to set up the Judicial Co–operation Network in civil matters. One of the two points of contact was identified as this Ministry (the other being the Office of the General State Prosecutor at the Court of Cassation).
The aims of the network between the different points of contact can be summarised as follows:

• to facilitate judicial co–operation in the field of interrogatories (EC Council Regulation 1206/2001) and in service of process (EC Regulation 1348/2000) by the provision of assistance on request by foreign authorities and national judicial offices interested in co–operation procedures;
• to provide information on Italian law to foreign courts which have to apply it in the context of a cross–border dispute and to forward requests on foreign law made by Italian courts;
• to implement the ATLAS Project through the communication to the Commission of all data relating to Italian judicial offices with jurisdiction in civil matters, including their respective territorial jurisdiction;
• to enter data on the network specific to the Italian legal system.

Framework Programmes for judicial co–operation in Civil Matters

• Seminar of 10–11 December 2004
  "The European Judicial Area and International Private Law" [IT]
  • Work Diary
  • Organisational Notes [IT]