Legal aid and cross-border disputes within the European Union: modified application procedure

EU Council Directive 2003/8/EC established minimum common rules relating to legal aid in cross-border civil disputes.  The Directive allows member states to apply financial and merits tests to cross-border applications. To reflect the flexible approach to means assessment and submission of applications in cases affected by the Directive:

• The provisions concerning financial eligibility have been made subject to article 5 of the Directive
• Applications for civil legal aid may be submitted using a common standard form in use throughout the EU
• We do not have to intimate our decision to you
• Applications for review of refusal of civil legal aid do not need to be intimated to the opponent.

You can get further details about the rules relating to legal aid for cross-border disputes from the European Commission’s European judicial atlas in civil matters.  This website also allows you to fill in the forms online, translate the form once you have filled it in and before printing it and transmit the forms electronically.