Corrigendum to the Recast Service Regulation on Information Provided by Member States

A corrigendum to Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 of 25 November 2020 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (the Recast Service Regulation) has been published on the Official Journal of the European Union of 2 February 2023 (L 405).

It concerns Article 33, which is about the information that Member States must share with the Commission so that the latter can make it available to the public at large.

Article 33(1) refers to such information as is required under Articles 3, 7, 12, 14, 17, 19, 20 and 22 of the Regulation. This includes, for example, the names and addresses of receiving agencies, the professions or competent persons that are permitted under national law to effect the direct service of documents, whether national law requires a document to be served within a particular period, etc.

The correction is, specifically, about Article 33(3). As originally published, the latter provision read as follows:

The Commission shall publish the information communicated in accordance with paragraph 1 in the Official Journal of the European Union, with the exception of the addresses and other contact details of the agencies and of the central bodies and the geographical areas in which they have jurisdiction.

According to the corrigendum, Article 33(3) should read instead:

The Commission shall publish the information communicated in accordance with paragraph 1 through appropriate means, including through the European e-Justice Portal.

As this is presented as a corrigendum, rather than an amendment to the Regulation, the revised text is meant to apply as of the date of application of the Regulation, that is, 1 July 2022. In fact, the information referred to in Article 33(3) has never been published on the Official Journal, and appears to be already available on the European Judicial Atlas in Civil Matters, which can be reached through the e-Justice Portal.