Rule will allow small claims to be pursued in other EU states

IRISH CONSUMERS will be able to pursue small claims against suppliers and service providers in other EU states under a new regulation in force from tomorrow. Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has announced that Ireland will be adopting a new regulation for claims of less than €2,000 to be pursued across all EU states except Denmark.

Mr Ahern said: "The main purpose is to establish a uniform procedure for getting a court decision in respect of a small claim across the member states. It also aims to facilitate the more rapid and cost-effective processing and collection of such claims. Also, there is no need to hire a lawyer".

The Consumers' Association of Ireland has welcomed the move. However, vice-chairman Michael Kilcoyne said "it should be mandatory that Small Claims Court decisions have the same enforceability as District and Circuit Court decisions".

"Unless the Minister is putting in a strict enforcement regime it's only lip service".

There was some difficulty about enforcing Small Claims Court decisions, Mr Kilcoyne said.

Its aim was "to give justice at a cheap rate, but if claimants have to engage a lawyer to have the small claims' decision enforced it defeats the purpose".

However, Mr Ahern said in a statement that judgments announced under the new procedure "are recognised and enforceable in member states without the need for a declaration of enforceability", and would apply at District Court level.

The new regulation would be of "particular benefit" to consumers claiming against providers in other countries because "they will be able to bring a claim under the regulation in the District Court area" where they live.

The procedure is an alternative to but not a replacement for existing national provisions. It applies only to cross-border cases and is intended to "simplify the recovery of uncontested claims which arise in a cross-border context".

Labour spokesman Willie Penrose welcomed the move. He pointed to legislation introduced in 1995 to deal with problems consumers had with travel and holidays, but the new regulation would be across a wide range of areas, which was a "positive advance".

"It's underpinning people's rights in terms of seeking recovery against a supplier they made a contract with for goods which were not fit for purpose".

He agreed that unless the provision was enforceable it was only a "cosmetic exercise", but there were a number of EU conventions which "would allow such judgments to be enforced in the state where the goods were produced".

Mr Ahern said the procedure "is a practical example of EU legislation which is designed to simplify the life of the citizen by reducing the obstacles to securing a fast and inexpensive judgment in small claims cases which have a cross-border dimension"

Claims, for a €15 fee, should be lodged with the small claims registrar of the District Court. Information is available at the courts service website www.courts.ie and the text of the regulation at www.justice.ie