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GAZETTE
NOVEMBER 1991
European Register of Wills?
There have been discussions in
the media recently about the
establishment of a private system
for registering wills. This issue
has been considered in the
European Parliament. Mr. Gerardo
Fernandez Albor (PPE) on 15
October, 1990 in a written question
to the European Commission,
asked whe t her it would be
appropriate to set up a single
Community information office on
wills drawn up by Community
citizens owning property in Com-
munity countries other than their
own, with a view to co-ordinating
measures from respective bodies
dealing with last wills and testa-
ments, and thus to contribute to
greater security in real estate
transactions and in other trans-
actions of a general nature, by
improving information access.
The Hon. Member stated that the
mobility of Community citizens,
their resettling in other Community
countries and their participation in
real estate transactions in their
adopted countries meant that they
owned property wh i ch was
logically among the dispositions in
their respective wills.
Gerardo Fernandez stated that
since, in most cases, these wills
were made in the relevant country
of origin, although they covered the
property purchased in their adopted
country, those involved in the
testator's business transactions in
their adopted coun t ry were
naturally confused as to whether
the deceased made a will in his/her
country of origin, in the presence of
which notary; which body was
responsible for co-ordinating this
information in the deceased's
country of origin; and what
guarantees of notarial information
they might receive etc.
Replying, Mr. Bangemann, on
behalf of the Commission, (
Of f i c i a l
Journal of the European Com-
munities
No. C 63/59, 11.3 1991),
stated that the matter referred to
by the Hon. Member fell within the
jurisdiction of the Member States.
Mr. Bangemann stated, however,
that there was already an instru-
ment of international law in this
field, namely the Basle Convention
of 16 May, 1972 on the establish-
ment of a scheme of registration of
wills. This was a Council of Europe
Convention, which has so far been
ratified by France, Belgium, the
Netherlands, Italy, Portugal,
Luxembourg and Spain among the
Community Countries, and by a
number of other European
countries. Ireland is not yet a party
to this Convention.
ECJ Revises Rules of
Procedure
The Court of Justice of the European
Communities, in the interests of
clarity and simplicity, and with the
intention of establishing a coherent
authentic text of its
Rules of Pro-
cedure,
has now revised its rules.
The new
Rules of Procedure
have
been set out in the
Official Journal
of the European Communities (No.
L 176/9 of July 4, 1991).
Readers may be interested in some
of the rules. Before taking up his
duties as Judge, a Judge of the
Court of Justice takes the following
oath:
" I swear that I will perform
my duties impartially and
conscientiously; I swear that
I will preserve the secrecy of
the deliberations of the
court."
It is also of interest that im-
mediately after taking the oath, a
Judge must sign a declaration by
which he solemnly undertakes that,
both during and after his term of
office, he will respect the
obligations arising therefrom, and
in particular the duty to behave
with integrity and discretion as
regards the acceptance, after he
had ceased to hold office, of certain
appointments and benefits.
Article 6 of the Rules provides that
Judges and Advocates-General shall
rank equally in precedence according
to their seniority in offica
Readers will be interested that the
language before the Court of
Justice of a case may be in Irish.
The language of a case is chosen
by the applicant - subject to
certain conditions.
Articles 32 and 36 of the Rules deal
with the rights and obligations of
agents, advisers and lawyers
appearing before the Court.
Agents, advisers and lawyers enjoy
certain privileges and facilities.
Papers and documents relating to
the proceedings are exempt from
both search and seizure. In the
(Cont'd on p. 318)
315