🇪🇪 Estonia

1. The status of digitalisation in enforcement of the judgments under the regulation in

question (a) under EOP Regulation, and (b) under EEO Regulation

Under both EOP and EEO Regulation electronic communication is preferred and parties are encouraged to file their documents via e-mail to the respective court or submit them into the online information system called E-File, where the parties and their representatives can electronically submit documents to the courts, keep track of the progress of the proceedings related to them, and dispute the claims and decisions. An electronic document is deemed to have been submitted to a court once it has been recorded in the database for the receipt of court documents.

Procedural aspects

2. Competent court or authority and procedure involved in the enforcement (a) under EOP

Regulation, and (b) under EEO Regulation

European Order for Payment (EOP) Under Estonian law, the competent court for European Orders for Payment is the district court that issues the order. The EOP procedure is integrated into the national expedited order-for-payment framework governed by the Code of Civil Procedure (TsMS), but European Orders for Payment are not subject to the centralised handling applied to domestic payment orders. The same district court that issues the European Order for Payment is also competent to declare it enforceable. Orders and procedural acts may be issued by a judge, an assistant judge, or automatically through the national Expedited Order-for-Payment Information System, provided that the statutory prerequisites are verified.

European Enforcement Order (EEO) For the purposes of the European Enforcement Order, the competent authority in Estonia is the district court that rendered the original judicial decision. This court is responsible for issuing the EEO certificate, as well as for rectifying or withdrawing the certificate where it was granted incorrectly. Estonia has designated Harju County Court as the authority referred to in Article 25 of the EEO Regulation. All certification-related matters are handled through a written procedure by the court that issued the underlying disposition.

3. rules on service

The procedure is carried out electronically through the Estonian e-File system. If a court serves a procedural document through the e-File system, the court will send the recipient a notice via e-mail or phone number that the document has been made available in the system. A procedural document is deemed to have been served when the recipient opens it in the information system or acknowledges its receipt in the information system without opening the document and also when the same is done by another person whom the recipient has allowed to see the documents in the information system. The information system registers the service of the document automatically. Where the recipient cannot be presumed to be able to use the e-File system or if service through the system is technically impossible, the court may also serve procedural documents on the recipient electronically by another method, while complying with the requirements for notification. In such case, the procedural document is deemed to have been served on the recipient when the recipient acknowledges receipt of the document in writing, by fax or electronically. The acknowledgement must state the date of receipt of the document and bear the signature of the recipient or of their representative. An acknowledgement made in an electronic form must bear the digital signature of the sender or be transmitted by another secure method that makes it possible to identify the sender and ascertain the time of sending, unless the court has no reason to doubt that the acknowledgement has been sent by the recipient or their representative. An acknowledgement made in an electronic form may be sent to the court by e-mail if the recipient's e-mail address is known to the court and it can be presumed that unauthorised persons do not have access to it and also if the court has already transmitted documents to the address during the proceedings or if the party to proceedings has provided their e-mail address to the court of their own volition. The recipient must send the acknowledgement mentioned in this subsection to the court without delay. The court may fine the party - or their representative - who has violated this duty.

4. Language of the certificate and documents to be appended

Under EOP A European order for payment is accepted for enforcement in Estonia only if it has been issued in the Estonian or English language, or if an Estonian or English translation is annexed to the order.

Under EEO Under Article 20(2)(c) of the EEO Regulation a European Enforcement Order is accepted for enforcement in Estonia only if it has been made in Estonian or English or if a translation into the Estonian or the English language is annexed to the certificate.

5. enforcement fees The costs of expedited order-for-payment proceedings are borne by the debtor if the order for payment is issued as well as the petitioner has informed the court that the debtor has paid the debt and the court termin ates the proceedings. In other situations, the costs are borne by the petitioner, unless otherwise provided by law. In all other respects, the provisions concerning case costs in action-by-claim proceedings apply. Where an order-for-payment case is transformed to be dealt with in action-by-claim proceedings, the costs of expedited order-for-payment proceedings are included in action-by-claim case costs. In expedited order-for-payment proceedings, the court - in addition to the allocation of case costs in the order for payment, or in the order by which it terminates the proceedings due to payment of the debt - also determines the money amount of the statutory fee to be reimbursed, and orders 20 euros to be paid to cover the petitioner's case costs. Any other case costs incurred by the petitioner in expedited order-for-payment proceedings are not reimbursed. The statutory fee is paid in advance. The claimant, petitioner or applicant is given a time limit to pay the fee and, if they have not made the payment by the due date, their court claim, petition or application is rejected unless otherwise prescribed by law. The statutory fee is established based on the size of the claim. A table for respective statutory fee amount can be found on the State Gazette website. The Estonian Code of Enforcement Procedure adds that enforcement costs are the enforcement agent's fee, the cost of service, on the debtor, of the enforcement notice and of any documents enclosed with the notice as well as expenditures which are necessary for enforcement proceedings and which have been incurred by the enforcement agent and the party seeking enforcement, or a third party, after the commencement of enforcement proceedings.

6. Refusal, stay, or limitation of the enforcement procedure under the regulation in question in

the intended Member State (a) under EOP Regulation, and (b) under EEO Regulation

In Estonia, refusal, stay, or limitation of enforcement under both the European Order for Payment and the European Enforcement Order is governed by general national rules on recognition and enforcement, rather than by specific implementing provisions reflecting Articles 22-23 of the EOP Regulation or Articles 21-23 of the EEO Regulation. The Estonian Code of Civil Procedure provides that a foreign judicial disposition will not be recognised if it conflicts with an earlier Estonian judgment between the same parties on the same matter, with an earlier foreign judgment already recognised or enforced in Estonia, or with a foreign judgment capable of recognition or enforcement in Estonia. Where a judicial disposition that has been declared enforceable is subsequently varied or set aside, the court may suspend pending enforcement proceedings, allow enforcement only subject to the provision of security, or invalidate enforcement measures already taken. In addition, the Estonian Code of Enforcement Procedure allows enforcement to be suspended, limited, deferred, or terminated on the debtor's motion where continuation would be unfair, taking into account the interests of the creditor as well as the debtor's family and financial situation. Enforcement must also be suspended or terminated where it is shown that the effect of the foreign judicial disposition serving as the enforceable title has been suspended or revoked in the state of origin. Finally, the debtor may bring a separate court action seeking a declaration that compulsory enforcement is impermissible, notably where the claim has been satisfied, deferred, or set off, without affecting the validity of the enforceable title itself.

7. Availability of any legal aid for guidance on the enforcement procedures under the

regulation in question in the intended Member State (a) under EOP Regulation, and (b) under EEO Regulation

No specific legal aid for the procedures. General State legal aid available. State legal aid is provided pursuant to the rules regarding procedural assistance set out in the Code of Civil Procedure and to the procedure specified in the State-funded Legal Aid Act (Riigi õigusabi seadus -RÕS).

8. Critical assessment of the enforcement procedures under the regulation in question in the

intended Member State (a) under EOP Regulation, and (b) under EEO Regulation

In national law, the regulations are mentioned respectively in sections 490 1 and 619 1 which clarify points left open by the Regulations (e.g. designated or competent authority, language requirements, and procedures for enforcement). While the information on the E-Justice portal for Estonia is rather scarce, more information can be found on the Estonian Courts' website 34 , on the Estonian free legal assistance portal Jurist Aitab, as well as on several legal firms' websites. More specific analyses regarding the application of the regulation by the courts in Estonia have been mainly written about a decade ago and by one author. In a questionnaire conducted among Estonian judges in 2012 regarding the application of the EEO regulation, the judges mentioned that they found difficulties in completing the EEO certificate, specifically marking the final amount especially with regard to arrears and interest. The Form was considered confusing. It was further pointed out that the Estonian translation of Form 1 p 13 is different from the English version, which causes further confusion in practice.