New Small claims Practice Guide and User Guide
News
Sustaining Access to Justice in Europe: New Avenues for Costs and Funding
The team of the NWO Vici project ‘Affordable Access to Justice’ at Erasmus School of Law, Erasmus University (Rotterdam), is organising the conference ‘Sustaining Access to Justice in Europe: New Avenues for Costs and Funding’ on 19 and 20 October 2023 at the Erasmus Paviljoen at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Access to civil justice is of paramount importance for enforcing citizens’ rights. At the heart of access to civil justice lies litigation funding and cost management. Yet, over the past decades, access to justice has been increasingly put under pressure due to retrenching governments, high costs of procedure, and the inefficiency of courts and justice systems. Within this context, the funding of litigation in Europe seems to be shifting from public to private sources. Private actors and innovative business models emerged to provide new solutions to the old problem of financial barriers of access to justice.
With the participation of policymakers, practitioners, academics, and civil society representatives from all over Europe and beyond, the conference seeks to delve deeper into the financial implications of access to justice and the different ways to achieve sustainable civil justice systems in Europe.
The topics addressed in this international academic conference will include the different methods of financing dispute resolution, particularly in the context of group litigation (third-party funding, crowdfunding, blockchain technologies), public interest litigation, developments in ADR/ODR, the new business models of legal professionals as well as law and economics aspects on litigation funding. The conference is supported by the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
Find the link to registration here.
Please find the preliminary conference programme below.
Call for papers Vici Conference Sustainable justice 2023.pdf
Provisional Programme.pdf
Published: July 23, 2019
Xandra Kramer has authored the updated Practice Guide and User Guide for the European Small Claims Procedure, approved by the European Judicial Network. The Small Claims Regulation became applicable on 1 January 2009, and an amended version became applicable on 14 July 2017, necessitating updates of the Guides. The European Small Claims Regulation aims to provide a low threshold procedure for consumers to claim their rights in cross-border cases in the EU. The amended Regulation enables to pursue claims with a value up to 5,000 EUR. It strengthens the electronic support and conduct of the procedure, making it more accessible to in person litigants. A novelty in the User Guide and the extensive Practice Guide is the link to available ADR mechanisms and the reference to the ODR platform, which informs consumers and practitioners about the existing alternatives. These are part of a consumer campaign launched in July to inform consumers about their rights. The new Guides as well as other tools on and information about the Small Claims Procedure is available in the Small Claims Section of the e-Justice Portal.