Legal Aid for EU Residents

On 18th January this year the EU Commission published a draft Directive with the aim of improving access to justice in cross-border disputes by establishing minimum common rules relating to legal aid and other financial aspects of civil proceedings. This follows a Green Paper on legal aid in civil matters issued by the Commission in March 2000. The draft Directive attempts to promote, in the context of legal proceedings, the progress toward general market harmonisation across the EU. A revised draft of the Directive is expected to be published shortly.

The United Kingdom and Ireland will not be subject to the Directive unless they opt in, which neither has yet done. This "opt in" arrangement arises under the Treaty on European Union, known as the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. Denmark has opted out of the regime.

The current draft provides that after the Directive has come into force, Member States will have until 1 January 2004 to make the necessary domestic arrangements to comply with the Directive.

Key Provisions

The draft introduces a right to legal aid in...