Taking evidence

National information and online forms concerning Regulation No. 1206/2001

NB! Council Regulation (EC) No 1206/2001 has been replaced by Regulation (EU) 2020/1783 of the European Parliament and of the Council as of 1 July 2022.

Notifications made under the new Regulation can be found here!

General information

Council Regulation (EC) No 1206/2001 of 28 May 2001 on cooperation between the courts of the Member States in the taking of evidence in civil or commercial matters seeks to improve, simplify and accelerate cooperation between courts in the taking of evidence.

The Regulation applies between all Member States of the European Union with the exception of Denmark. Between Denmark and the other Member States the Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters of 1970 applies.

The Regulation provides for two ways of taking of evidence between Member States: taking of evidence through the requested court and the direct taking of evidence by the requesting court.

The Requesting Court is the court before which the proceedings are commenced or contemplated. The Requested Court is the competent court of another Member State for the performance of the taking of evidence. The Central Body is responsible for supplying information and seeking solutions to any difficulties which may arise in respect of a request.

The Regulation provides for ten forms.

The European e-Justice Portal provides you with information concerning the application of the Regulation and a user-friendly tool for filling in the forms.

Please select the relevant country's flag to obtain detailed national information.

Related links

Practice guide for the application of the Regulation on the Taking of Evidence PDF (74 Kb) en

Practical guide on using videoconferencing to obtain evidence in civil and commercial matters PDF (724 Kb) en

The Hague Convention of 18 March 1970 on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters

ARCHIVED European Judicial ATLAS website (closed on 30 September 2017)

Last update: 01/07/2022

This page is maintained by the European Commission. The information on this page does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission. The Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to any information or data contained or referred to in this document. Please refer to the legal notice with regard to copyright rules for European pages.