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The court issues a European Payment Order – what happens next?

The European Payment Order is served to both the Claimant and the Defendant, along with a copy of the claim and instructions informing the Defendant that they have two options:

• to pay the amount specified in the order to the claimant, or
• to file an objection to the European Payment Order.

The Defendant is informed that the order was issued solely based on the information provided by the claimant, which has not been verified by the court, and that the order will become enforceable unless an objection is effectively submitted to the court.

What does it mean to submit an objection effectively? To be effective, the Defendant must send the objection to the court, following the rules on service of documents, within 30 days of receiving the order.

The objection does not require justification — it only needs to include a statement from the Defendant that they dispute the claim.

As a result, if the objection is filed within the deadline, the European Payment Order loses its effect.

What happens to the order after it is served to the defendant?

If the defendant:

• does not file an objection within the deadline, or
• files an objection with formal deficiencies and fails to correct them within the deadline despite the court’s request,

then the court officially declares the order enforceable and arranges for the European Payment Order to be served to the claimant along with “Form G” (declaration of enforceability) – at which point the claimant may proceed with enforcement.

The defendant has filed an objection – what next?

At the stage of filing the claim, the claimant must decide what will happen if the defendant files an objection:

• whether the case will be referred to ordinary civil proceedings, or
• whether the case will not proceed further.

To this end, the claimant completes a form attached to the claim. However, this attachment is not served to the defendant along with the claim and the payment order (otherwise, the defendant would know in advance that they could file an objection and the case would be terminated, making the claimant’s ability to decide the case’s further course after the objection illusory).

When deciding on the further course of the proceedings in case of an objection, the claimant must consider whether they are prepared to pursue the claim in ordinary civil proceedings, where the formal requirements are stricter and the potential costs of losing the case are higher.