New measures to strengthen the position of consumers and businesses in low-value cross-border disputes have been proposed by the European Commission.

There has been a procedure in place in Europe to resolve small civil and commercial cross-border disputes since 2007 – the European Small Claims Procedure. Six years down the line, the Commission is drawing on the experience acquired to make this procedure even simpler, cheaper and more relevant for consumers and businesses.

The key change being proposed is a rise in the ceiling for filing a claim under the procedure – up from €2,000 to €10,000. Small businesses are expected to be the big winners of this change, as currently only 20% of business claims fall below the €2,000 threshold.

The European Small Claims Procedure has been a highly successful tool, claims the Commission. It has apparently reduced the cost of litigating cross-border small claims by up to 40%, and reduced the duration of litigation from two years and five months down to an average of only five months.

Other measures proposed by the Commission to further improve the procedure include:

• Widening the definition of what a ‘cross-border’ case is in order to help more consumers and businesses resolve their cross-border disputes.
• Capping court fees: Under the existing small claims procedure court fees can be disproportionate, in some cases even exceeding the value of the claim itself. The proposals will ensure that court fees do not exceed 10% of the value of the claim, and the minimum fee cannot be higher than €35. It will also require that court fees can be paid online by credit card.
• Cutting paperwork and travel costs: The new rules will enable claimants to launch the procedure online: email will become a legally valid means of communication between the parties involved, and teleconferencing or videoconferencing will become natural tools in oral hearings, wherever these are necessary.

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