An evaluation study of national procedural laws and practices in terms of their impact on the free circulation of judgments and on the equivalence and effectiveness of the procedural protection of consumers under EU consumer law : strand 1 : mutual trust and free circulation of judgments

In response to the tender specifications the study consists of two parts. The first examines whether divergences in national procedural laws and practices constitute obstacles to mutual trust and, in the affirmative, identifies the locus and the scale of such obstacles; it thereby facilitates the identification of the areas in which mutual trust needs to be further enhanced in line with the European Council Conclusions of 26/27 June 2014. In addition, the study addresses possible obstacles to legal certainty when businesses and citizens engage in cross-border litigation. The second strand of the study evaluates whether and to what extent national procedural laws and practices ensure the effective procedural protection of EU consumers. Both strands of the study investigate the legal and the practical situations in the civil procedural laws of the 28 EU Member States.