Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had with his European counterparts on the maintenance of access to courts in EU countries for UK victims of consumer fraud resident in those countries after the UK leaves the EU.

There have been no conversations between the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union and his European counterparts on this specific subject, because there is no reason why access to a Member State’s courts for individuals resident in that country would change after our exit from the EU.

However, as stated in the Government’s White Paper on the Future Relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union published on 12 July, the UK is keen to explore a new bilateral agreement with the EU on civil judicial cooperation. This would cover a coherent package of rules on jurisdiction, applicable law, and recognition and enforcement of judgments. This would mean that, when buying cross-border, consumers could continue to be confident that if they have a dispute they can bring a claim in their own country’s courts, regardless of where the supplier is based, and that the resulting judgment would be enforceable.