According to a European Parliament press release, a draft law to improve and broaden the use of a simplified procedure for low-value cross-border claims to recover money from abroad has been informally agreed by MEPs and the Latvian Presidency of the Council.
New rules, which still need to be approved by Parliament and the Council, would raise the threshold for claims covered by the procedure from EUR 2,000 to EUR 5,000.
The European Small Claims Procedure, in use since 2009, is a simplified procedure based on standard forms for recovering money owed by someone in another EU country. The proposed changes would make the procedure available for more cases, cut court fees and encourage the use of electronic communications, such as videoconferencing, and means of distance payment.
To broaden the use of the procedure while safeguarding the procedural rights of citizens, MEPs and the Latvian Presidency agreed to extend the procedure to cross-border claims worth up to EUR 5,000. Currently, the procedure is available only for cases with a value of up to EUR 2,000. The possibility of raising the threshold even further will be examined during the first five years of the application of the new rules.
