Access to Justice as Illustrated by the Institute of Small Claims: an Assessment of the Procedural Law Reform in Ukraine

Abstract

On 15-16 October 1999, a meeting of the European Council, whose influence on the development of civil process in the EU cannot be overestimated, took place in Tampere. It was at this meeting that the need was declared to develop and implement the EU level rules of procedure, which should simplify and accelerate cross-border litigation (within the EU). As a result, the Regulation (EC) No 861/2007 of the European Parliament and the Council of 11 July 2007 establishing a European small claims procedure was adopted. On the basis of this Regulation, the European legislators sought to introduce a small claims procedure directly in the EU. However, their intentions and efforts have also become the guideline for legislators of those states that (so far) are not members of the EU, in particular, Ukraine. In more than a decade, the institute of small claims has found its consolidation in the reformed civil process of Ukraine, an associate partner of the EU. In this context, the question arises: have the goals and results of the institutes' implementation coincided within the law of the EU and Ukraine? Is there a positive experience of such an introduction and does this institute need further reforms? This publication is an attempt to provide answers to these questions.