Basis for statements concerning the Irish legal services market made in Document COM(2014) 408 final

The request was refused by Economic and Financial Affairs.

Dear Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN),

BACKGROUND

In paragraph 16 of the preamble to the Commission's "Recommendation for a Council Recommendation on Ireland’s 2014 national reform programme and delivering a Council opinion on Ireland’s 2014 stability programme" COM(2014)final the European Commission made several statements concerning the costs of legal services in Ireland namely:

1./ The cost of enforcing contracts is high. Lawyer fees represent the majority of these costs, at 18.8 pp

2./ unlike for other professional services, legal services costs have failed to adjust downwards since the onset of the crisis, in part due to insufficient competition.

3./ Judicial and court administrative resources to implement active pre-trial case management are very limited, which may be contributing to delays in the delivery of justice and raise costs; and

4./ there are significant gaps in Ireland's ability to collect data on the quality and efficiency of the justice system.

REQUEST

Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:

The basis and evidence under which the European Commission made each of the statements concerning the Irish legal services market as outlined in points 1-4 above.

Yours faithfully,

Fred Logue

Dear Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN),

In relation to my request for access to documents there was a typographical error. The correct document reference should be COM(2014) 408 final

Yours faithfully,

Fred Logue

Economic and Financial Affairs

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Dear Sir,
 
Thank you for your request for access to documents. Unfortunately you have
not indicated your postal address that is required for registering and
handling your request in line with the procedural requirements.
 
Please send us your full postal address at your earliest convenience.
Pending your reply, we reserve the right to refuse the registration of
your request.
 
You may, of course, use directly the electronic form for entering your
request:
[1]http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...
 
Yours faithfully,
 
 
S. van Ackere
Policy officer
 
European Commission
Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs
R.4: Evaluation, internal control, business continuity and document
management

 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Logue [[2]mailto:[FOI #1364 email]]
Sent: Monday, June 02, 2014 6:46 PM
To: ECFIN ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS
Subject: access to information request - Basis for statements concerning
the Irish legal services market made in Document COM(2014) 408 final
 
Dear Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN),
 
BACKGROUND
 
In paragraph 16 of the preamble to the Commission's "Recommendation for a
Council Recommendation on Ireland’s 2014 national reform programme and
delivering a Council opinion on Ireland’s 2014 stability programme"
COM(2014)final the European Commission made several statements concerning
the costs of legal services in Ireland namely:
 
1./ The cost of enforcing contracts is high. Lawyer fees represent the
majority of these costs, at 18.8 pp
 
2./ unlike for other professional services, legal services costs have
failed to adjust downwards since the onset of the crisis, in part due to
insufficient competition.
 
3./ Judicial and court administrative resources to implement active
pre-trial case management are very limited, which may be contributing to
delays in the delivery of justice and raise costs; and
 
4./ there are significant gaps in Ireland's ability to collect data on the
quality and efficiency of the justice system.
 
REQUEST
 
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in
Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the
following information:
 
The basis and evidence under which the European Commission made each of
the statements concerning the Irish legal services market as outlined in
points 1-4 above.
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Fred Logue
 
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This message and all replies from Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN)
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References

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1. http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/...
2. mailto:[FOI #1364 email]
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Dear Economic and Financial Affairs (ECFIN),

Thanks you for your acknowledgement of receipt of my request under Regulation 1049/2001.

Since my request has been validly made under Article 6(1) of that regulation and there does not appear to be a valid need for it I am declining to provide my postal address since I do not wish it to be published on the internet.

Yours faithfully,

Fred Logue