Expedited settlement of commercial disputes in the European Union

Uuring 05-12-2018

The EU legal services market is the second largest in the world. Commercial, business to business (B2B) litigation is one of the largest segments of the legal services market. The EU measures on choice of law, choice of forum and enforcement proved to be successful in supporting EU competitiveness. However, to enhance competitiveness of the EU litigation market and ensure further growth, a set of EU measures to simplify and expedite settlement of commercial disputes is needed. The EU measures should focus on the enhancement of procedural efficiency, among other things, by taking action to reduce length of procedure. The 2018 European Added Value Assessment (EAVA) suggests that the EU actions to expedite settlement of commercial disputes could generate European added value for the EU economy and businesses in the range of 4.6 to 5.7 billion EUR annually. The European added value can be created through increase in direct contribution of litigation services revenues to the EU economy and through reduction of opportunity costs to business associated with length of judicial proceedings.