Translation Requirements under the EC Service Regulation: the Weiss und Partner Decision of the ECJ

The paper examines the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Communities of 8 May 2008 in Weiss und Partner, a case regarding the interpretation of Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1348/2000 on the service abroad of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil and commercial matters. Special attention is paid to the way in which the Courts attempted to strike a fair balance between effective of judicial cooperation, on one side, and protection of the addressee, on the other, by combining elements coming from the European Convention on Human Rights, the EC policies on judicial cooperation in civil matters and the Member States' domestic legal systems and judicial authorities.