Court Rules

ORDER 14B[1]
SERVICE IN EU MEMBER STATES (INCLUDING THE STATE) OF JUDICIAL AND EXTRA-JUDICIAL DOCUMENTS[2]

1.[3] [4]In this Order, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires:

 "a Member State" or "Member States" means a Member State or Member States of the European Community, with the exception of the Kingdom of Denmark;

 “the Regulation” means Regulation (EC) No. 1393/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extra-judicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents), and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No. 1348/2000;

 “the “Receiving Agency” or “Receiving Agencies” means the entity or the entities designated by each of the Member States of the EU pursuant to Article 2(2) of the Regulation and in Ireland shall be the Combined Court Office situate at Castlebar in the County of Mayo or such other authority, or public officer or other person as is for the time being designated by the State pursuant to Article 2(2) of the Regulation;

the “Transmitting Agency” or “Transmitting Agencies” means the entity or the entities designated by each of the Member States of the EU pursuant to Article 2(1) of the  Regulation and in Ireland shall be the Combined Court Office situate at Castlebar in the County of Mayo or such other authority, or public officer or other person as is for the time being designated by the State pursuant to Article 2(1) of the Regulation.

2. This Order applies to the service of documents to which the Regulation applies in the matters referred to at Article 1 of the Regulation.

3. Any party to any proceedings to which the Regulation applies, who wishes to have a document served pursuant to the Regulation, must lodge with the Transmitting Agency:

(a) two copies of the Document to be served with an additional copy thereof for each person to be served;

(b) a request for service of the Document, in a language as provided for in Article 4(3) of the Regulation, as the case may be, in the form specified in the Annex to the Regulation;

(c) an undertaking to pay the costs of service.

4. If any request for service does not comply with the provisions of these Rules, the Transmitting Agency shall inform the applicant and specify the objections to the request.

5. The Transmitting Agency shall, as soon as the request for service complies with the provisions of Rules 2 and 3, transmit the document or documents concerned in accordance with Article 4 of the Regulation.

6. The Transmitting Agency shall forward to the Applicant, by the swiftest possible means of transmission:

             (i) a copy of the receipt referred to at Article 6 of the Regulation;

(ii) a copy of the notice of return referred to at Article 6 of the Regulation together with the documents transmitted;

             (iii) a request for missing information or documents; or

(iv) a copy of the certificate evidencing the refusal of the addressee to accept to in Article 8 of the Regulation, as the case may be, as soon as practicable after receipt of those documents or requests by the Transmitting Agency.

7. The Transmitting Agency shall maintain a list of the Member States to which the Regulation applies and the languages specified by each Member State for the purposes of Article 4(3) of the Regulation and those parts of the relevant Member States to which the relevant language applies. Such list shall be available for inspection during the opening hours of the County Registrar's office.

8. When properly received, the County Registrar, as Receiving Agency, shall serve the document or documents by registered post or by particular form requested by the Transmitting Agency, unless such a method is incompatible with Irish law, in accordance with Article 7 of the Regulation.

9. On receipt of a certificate provided for in Article 10 of the Regulation from the relevant Receiving Agency, the Transmitting Agency shall forthwith transmit the certificate to the applicant.

10.[5] [6] In addition to the method of service described in rule 3, a party to the proceedings may choose to effect service in another Member State by diplomatic or consular agents, in accordance with Article 13 of the Regulation (save where that Member State has indicated, in accordance with Article 23(1) of the Regulation, that it is opposed to the service of documents in its territory in the said manner) or by direct service, in accordance with Article 15 of the Regulation.

11...[7]

12. (1) Subject to Rule 12(5), judgment shall not be given or entered in default of Appearance in any proceedings to which this Order applies until it is established that:

(i) the document was served by a method prescribed by the internal law of the Member State addressed for the service of documents in domestic actions upon persons who are within its territory; or

(ii) the document was actually delivered to the Defendant or to his residence by another method provided for by the Regulation, and that in either case the service or delivery was effected in sufficient time to enable the Defendant to defend.

(2) Judgment in default of Appearance shall only be entered with leave of the Court.

(3) An application for leave to enter Judgment in default shall be made by Motion on notice and shall be supported by an Affidavit verifying the Plaintiffs claim for relief and verifying the steps taken to serve the proceedings and supported by adequate proof thereof.

(4) [8]  The Affidavit referred to in rule 12(3) shall, where the claim is one to which Regulation No. 1215/2012 applies, also state that in the deponent's belief:

(i) each claim made by the originating document is one which, by virtue of Regulation No. 1215/2012 or any amendment thereof, the Court has power to hear and determine; and

(ii) no other Court has exclusive jurisdiction within the meaning of Regulation No. 1215/2012 to hear and determine such claim.

(5) The Court may give leave to enter Judgment if no certificate of service or delivery has been received from the Transmitting Agency, provided that:

(i) the Document was transmitted by one of the methods provided for in the Regulation;

(ii) a period of time (of not less than six months), considered adequate by the Court, has elapsed since the date of transmission of the Document; and

(iii) no certificate of any kind has been received, even though every reasonable effort has been made to obtain it through the competent authorities of the Member State addressed.

13. The Court may, at any stage, in the event of urgency, make orders for any provisional or protective measures required by the Plaintiff.

14. Any application to extend time for appealing any Judgment obtained in default shall be made by Motion on Notice and shall be grounded upon the Affidavit of the moving party and the Court may, if satisfied that:

(i) the application was made within a reasonable time after the Defendant had knowledge of the Judgment; and

(ii) the Defendant, without any fault on his part, did not have knowledge of the Document in sufficient time to defend, or knowledge of the Judgment in sufficient time to appeal; and 

             (iii) the Defendant has disclosed a prime facie defence to the action on the merits,

extend the time for appealing same, on such terms and conditions as appear just.

15. No such application to set aside a Judgment obtained in default shall be entertained if not made within a time that the Court shall deem to be reasonable.

16. No application to extend the time for appealing the Judgment shall be entertained in respect of Judgments concerning status or capacity of persons.

17.[9] In the case of a default of Appearance by a Defendant to an originating document, the Plaintiff shall file an Affidavit in the appropriate Circuit Court Office verifying the facts relied upon and there upon may apply to the Court for Judgment in default of Appearance.

18. Subject to the provisions of this Order, Orders 26 and 27 shall, in so far as practicable, apply to applications under this Order for leave to enter Judgment.

19.[10]To the extent that any rules contained in any other Order of these Rules are inconsistent with the provisions of the Regulation or of this Order, the provisions of the Regulation or of this Order shall prevail.

20.[11] [12] While an Agreement between the European Community and the Kingdom of Denmark on the service of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil and commercial matters [annexed to Council Decision No. 2005/794/EC of 20 September 2005 (OJ L 300/53 of 17 November 2005) signed at Brussels on 19 October 2005 and approved 4 [375] on behalf of the Community by Council Decision No. 2006/326/EC of 27 April 2006 (OJ L 120/23 of 5 May 2006)] is for the time being in force, notwithstanding any other provision of these Rules to the contrary, the provisions of these Rules which relate to the Regulation shall apply in relation to the Kingdom of Denmark, to the extent permitted, and subject to any modifications made necessary, by such Agreement.