Conclusions on the Future of Civil Justice Cooperation

Council of the European Union OUTCOME OF PROCEEDINGS From: General Secretariat of the Council On: 3 December 2019 To: Delegations No. prev. doc.: 14448/19 + COR 1 Brussels, 4 December 2019 (OR. en) 14860/19 JUSTCIV 237 JAI 1300 Subject: Conclusions on the Future of Civil Justice Cooperation Delegations will find in Annex the Council conclusions on the Future of Civil Justice Cooperation adopted by the Council (Justice and Home Affairs) on 3 December 2019. JAI. 2 EN COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS ON THE FUTURE OF CIVIL JUSTICE COOPERATION ANNEX 1. The Council underlines the importance of civil justice cooperation for citizens’ and companies’ everyday life and recalls the commitments taken with the Tampere conclusions and Stockholm Programme. The Council stresses that for carrying out the objectives of the Strategic Agenda 2019-2024 further reflection on the civil justice cooperation acquis is required. In terms of future action, the Council emphasises the need to prioritise effective implementation, enforcement, evaluation of application and functioning of existing EU instruments as well as digitalisation. The existing EU legal framework should be as user friendly as possible. Any new legislative initiatives must be based on evidence of clear added value and of practical needs of citizens and businesses. Where the initiatives aim at harmonising substantive civil law they should not unnecessarily impede on...