Receipt of court documents by individuals and companies in the European Union

In number of national legislations of the EU member-states, including the Bulgarian legislation, exist provisions according to which individuals and companies residing outside Bulgaria must provide judicial address inside the country for the purposes of the lawsuit. In case of failure to fulfill this obligation the court documents could be attached to the case folder and to be deemed received without their factual sending to the receiver. By applying this procedure even the court decision could be delivered and the limited term for appeal could start to run.

This regulation hides lots of risks for the party of the lawsuit that resides in other EU member-state.

In the same time mandatory and detailed European regulation is present in Regulation № 1393/2007 regarding the receiving of court documents. The Regulation explicitly specify the procedure according to which the court documents reach their receivers in their country of residence.

Whether the Bulgarian court can apply the national procedure regulation and by this to stop the factual receiving of court documents after warning is a question that occur in the given situation.

The formed problems found their resolution in real lawsuit initiated and conducted by Tutnaliev Law Firm. The Supreme Court of Cassation decreed cancellation of court judgement that was not received in fact by one of the parties – Greek trade company. During the lawsuit reference to Decision of the European Court of Justice on preliminary ruling regarding the application of similar Polish regulation was accepted. The practice formed thereby provides for other EU individuals or entities, that were party in lawsuit in Bulgaria, grounds to claim cancellation of court judgement even though its status is “in force”.