S.L. 12.9 Art. 15Service of judicial and extrajudicial documents between EU Member States.

(1) The provisions of Regulation (EU) No 2020/1784 of the

European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents) (recast) shall apply to matters falling within the scope of that Regulation.

(2) The provisions of Part II of the Legal Procedures (Ratification of Conventions) Act, incorporating into Maltese law the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters, signed at the Hague on 15 November 1965 shall apply to those state parties to the said Convention and to those European Member States which are not participating and bound by the provisions of the aforementioned Regulation (EU) No 2020/1784 of the European Parliament and of the Council and any amendments thereto which may be applicable to Malta from time to time.

(3) The central authority or the receiving agency, as the case may be, shall cause the document to be served by attaching the document to a judicial letter filed in the Registry of the Civil Court, First Hall, in the case of documents to be served in the Island of Malta, and in the Registry of the Court of Magistrates (Gozo) in its superior jurisdiction, in the case of documents to be served in the Islands of Gozo and Comino, to be served on the person addressed together with such document, and such judicial letter and accompanying document shall be served in accordance with the methods prescribed in -

(a) article 187(1), (2), (4) or (7) of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure, as the circumstances of the case may require: Provided that the reference to curators appointed by the court in the said article 187(7) shall not apply; or

(b) article 187(8) of the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure: Provided that the proviso to the said article 187(8) shall not apply, as the central authority may deem fit to specify in the circumstances of each case.

(4) Where in any civil or commercial matter pending before a court or tribunal of a foreign country which is not bound by the Regulation mentioned in sub-rule (1) and by the Convention mentioned in sub-rule (2), a letter of request from such court or tribunal for service on any person, in Malta, of any process or citation in such matter, is transmitted to any of the superior courts, with an intimation that it is desirable that effect should be given to the same, the following procedure shall be adopted:

(a) the letter of request for service shall, unless it is drawn up in the English language, be accompanied by a translation thereof in the English language, and by two copies of the process or citation to be served, and two copies thereof in the English language;

(b) service of the process or citation shall be effected by one of the court executive officers of the superior courts;

(c) such service shall be effected in accordance with the provisions of article 187 of the Code;

(d) after service has been effected, the process server shall return to the Registrar, Civil Courts and Tribunals, or the Registrar, Gozo Courts and Tribunals, as the case may be, one copy of the process together with the evidence of service by a declaration on oath of the person effecting the service, and particulars of charges for the cost of effecting such service;

(e) the particulars of charges for the cost of effecting service shall be submitted to the Registrar, Civil Courts and Tribunals, or to the Registrar, Gozo Courts and Tribunals, as the case may be, who shall certify the correctness of the charges or such other amount as shall be properly payable for the cost of effecting service;

(f) The Registrars shall transmit through the State Advocate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the letter of request for service received from the foreign country, together with the evidence of service, with a certificate appended thereto duly sealed. Such certificate shall be on Form No. 3 as set out in Annex A.

(5) In the execution of commissions rogatoires and letters of request emanating from a court out of Malta, in the examination of witnesses in regard to civil and commercial matters pending before a court out of Malta, the forms numbered 1 and 2 set out in the Annex A to these rules shall be used.

Part VII - Taking of Evidence Abroad