SUPPLEMENTARY RULES OF THE COURT OF JUSTICE

1 Letters rogatory shall be issued in the form of an order which shall contain the names, forenames, description and address of the witness or expert, set out the facts on which the witness or expert is to be examined, name the parties, their agents, lawyers or advisers, indicate their addresses for service and briefly describe the subject-matter of the proceedings.

2 Notice of the order shall be served on the parties by the Registrar.

1 The Registrar shall send the order to the competent authority named in Annex I of the Member State in whose territory the witness or expert is to be examined. Where necessary, the order shall be accompanied by a translation into the official languages of the Member State to which it is addressed.

2 The authority named pursuant to paragraph 1 shall pass on the order to the judicial authority which is competent according to its national law.

3 The competent judicial authority shall give effect to the letters rogatory in accordance with its national law. After implementation the competent judicial authority shall transmit to the authority named pursuant to paragraph 1 the order embodying the letters rogatory, any documents arising from the implementation and a detailed statement of costs. These documents shall be sent to the Registrar of the Court.

4 The Registrar shall be responsible for the translation of the documents into the language of the case.

The Court shall defray the expenses occasioned by the letters rogatory without prejudice to the right to charge them, where appropriate, to the parties.

1 The Court, by any order by which it decides that a person is entitled to receive legal aid, shall order that a lawyer be appointed to act for him.

2 If the person does not indicate his choice of lawyer, or if the Court considers that his choice is unacceptable, the Registrar shall send a copy of the order and of the application for legal aid to the authority named in Annex II, being the competent authority of the State concerned.

3 The Court, in the light of the suggestions made by that authority, shall of its own motion appoint a lawyer to act for the person concerned.

The Court shall adjudicate on the lawyer’s expenses and fees; on request, an advance on those expenses and fees may be paid.

The Court, after hearing the Advocate General, may decide to report to the competent authority referred to in Annex III of the Member State whose courts have penal jurisdiction any case of perjury on the part of a witness or expert before the Court.

The Registrar shall be responsible for communicating the decision of the Court. The decision shall set out the facts and circumstances on which the report is based.

These Supplementary Rules replace the Supplementary Rules of 4 December 1974 (OJ L 350, 28.12.1974, p. 29), as most recently amended on 21 February 2006 (OJ L 72, 11.3.2006, p. 1).

1 These Rules, which shall be authentic in the languages referred to in Article 36 of the Rules of Procedure, shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

2 These Rules shall enter into force on the date of their publication.