News
At the 18th General Assembly in Warsaw Connexx welcomes a new Partner
Warsaw, is vibrant, clean, and a safe city to visit. Our 18th General Assembly was well attended with many agenda items to discuss. The assembly was organised and arranged by our Polish partners Leszek Czarny and Wojciech Budny who are two of the partners in the law firm of Kancelaria Radców Prawnych who provide legal and debt collection services in English, Russian, Spanish, and of course Polish.
The General Assembly was over a two day period and held on September 19 – 20th 2019. One of the Highlights of the conference was the addition of our new partner Ivan Zhabotynskyі who, is a private enforcement officer with offices based in Kyiv Ukraine. Ivan gave an excellent presentation to the members regarding his length of office, and the functions of civil debt enforcement that he is able to provide.
It is very exciting for Ivan, being relatively new to the enforcement sector, as the Ukrainian government has recently decided to modernise enforcement throughout the country. Geographically is Ukraine is a large country to cover, however Ivan has relationships with other Judicial Officers in the more remote parts of the country. So any files sent to Ivan will always have his special attention.
Following his presentation it was unanimously decided to admit Ivan as a full member. In the photo Ivan on the right has just signed the official documents of membership, with our President Alex Dockers.
Again this is very exciting for the Connexx Network as we branch out to eastern Europe. Many have asked is Ukraine in Europe or is it part of Russia? “Ukraine is a priority partner
within the Eastern Partnership and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). ... The economic part of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement was signed on 27 June 2014 by the new President, Petro Poroshenko”.
The EU is seeking an increasingly close relationship with Ukraine, going beyond co-operation, to gradual economic integration and deepening of political co-operation. Link.
So I hope that is now clear. If you would like to find out more about the services of our new Ukrainian Partner please look up the country in the top tool bar of this website. Our next meeting will be held in the ancient and capital city of Athens Greece.
Connexx meets in Warsaw and appoints a new Board of Directors
What started as an idea, a concept in 2012 by Alex Dockers, became a reality. Alex, as a Judicial Officer based in Belgium, believed that there was an information gap in how other countries enforced judicial titles and how they undertook debt collection.
The other question was how to form a network where English is the second language and how to cooperate with other countries on the same level? These were the burning questions.
In South Africa the same year, the Union International Huisseir de Justice was holding its congress meeting. Alex made contact with like-minded Judicial Officers, and Martin Leyshon and David Walker, who were representing England, Wales, and Scotland, were invited to join in discussions.
Agreements were made, and the rest they say is history. Connexx now has a network of 18 partners in different countries throughout Europe.
At our last Connexx General Assembly in Warsaw, Poland, several changes were made, of which we would like to share with you, and new countries joined our network.
Alex Dockers stood down as the president after seven years of given the network much-needed direction, guidance, enthusiasm, and commitment. Alex, we thank you for everything you have done for our network, and even though you will now become a backbencher, we are sure that your contributions will continue to be invaluable.
We also would like to thank Adrian Bayh, who has also stood down from the board for his contribution over the years.
Martin Leyshon also stood down as the Vice President. Martin, however, remains on the board as its technical director. Martin said, "I am looking forward to working with our new president Damir Site and other new members of the board". "The challenge is to take the network to the next level now that the foundations are firmly in place".
To check out the new president and the board profiles, please see members of the board.
New additions – We welcome Morgan Matile from Switzerland and Geoffrey Galle from Luxemburg to the board.
Over the last three years, Connexx has welcomed new partners from:
Luxemburg
Switzerland
Greece
We wish to put on record our sincere thanks to our Partners in Poland for organizing our General Assembly and making it a great success. Sylvia, in particular, met everyone's expectations. Thank you once more.
Speaking of Greece its' the destination for our next Connexx meeting to which I'm sure all members are looking forward to attending.
Congress of world Judicial Officers Bangkok
A number of Connexx members attend the Congress of world Judicial Officers in Bangkok Thailand. Over 92 Countries were in attendance, discussing all things legal, judicial, and enforceable.
A number of the Connexx Members including had the privedge of speaking at the conference:
Martin Leyshon
David Walker
Damir Situ
Elin Vilipus
Connexx Members Guests at an International Conference
Connexx is pleased to announce that its members will participate at an International conference on collecting outstanding cross-border debts in commercial transactions in Europe that will take place in Belgrade on March 23, 2018.
The Conference is organized by the Serbian Chamber of Judicial Officers and the Belgrade State University Faculty of Law.
The Belgrade International Enforcement Conference 2018 is aimed at addressing the topic - of how Serbian business can enforce their matured outstanding debts in various European jurisdictions.
Following the welcoming remarks by the organizers and a lecture given by Nikola Bodiroga PhD, Belgrade Law Faculty professor on the topic of Cross-border enforcement in Europe, Connexx members are invited to take an active part in an open discussion and a special Q&A session.
During the open discussion session, representatives of the Serbian business community will have a chance to enquire from Connexx members how to enforce their claims throughout Europe based on their experience in cross-border enforcement in Europe.
More information: http://lyceum.rs/clanak?redniBroj=30
Connexx Holds its 13th General Assembly in Nice
On Friday 31st March 2017 Connexx, an International Collection & Enforcement Network, held its 13th General Assembly with member countries in Nice (France).
Our Network were pleased with the presence and accession of our new partner from Lithuania, ( you can find out more information regarding their enforcement procedures on our website). Connexx is pleased to announce that we are growing strongly throughout Eastern Europe.
With the presence of almost all members, the importance of the Network and the mutual cooperation was once again emphasised. During the afternoon, Board members of Connexx gave four presentations to around 50 Huissiers de Justice (Judicial Officers of France) who were representing Leximpact, the French Network.
The presentations explained the different collection and enforcement procedures in the following countries:
Bulgaria
Serbia
England and Wales
With the opening presentation, given by Alex Dockers our President, emphasizing the culture and expectations of Connexx.
We are seeing a strong increase in the number of cross-border debt recovery instructions throughout the network, which is very pleasing, again re-enforceing the need for collection and enforcement solutions.
Connexx is the mechanism by which a partner can provide an invaluable service to its client/partners within its own country for foreign claims.
8th Connexx General Assembly Meeting Held in Glasgow
On October 17, 2014 held at the Conference room of Clydesdale Bank Head Office in Glasgow, European Collections and Enforcement Network Connexx held its 8th General Assembly meeting. The President Alex Dockers welcomed the Network’s members. Mr. Todor Lukov, enforcement officer of the Plovdiv District Court judicial area, the Republic of Bulgaria, participated in the work of the 8th General Assembly in the capacity of an observer. Officer Lukov informed the General assembly participants both on the Bulgarian system of civil enforcement, and the work of his organisation “Lukov & Gorchev” Enforcement Officers Partnership, in which he is one of the founding partners.
The participants of the 8th Connexx General Assembly (GA) dealt with issues related to the Network’s regular ongoing affairs, and to current problems in France, having in mind the recent Paris protest of the Republic’s huissiers. We also heard from the experiences of our Spanish delegates, who joined Connexx on its previous GA meeting in Tallinn, the Republic of Estonia.
On the events of the Glasgow General Assembly meeting, our hosts, Walker Love a firm of Scottish Messenger-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers, organised an Evening of Scottish Hospitality, on which traditional dishes were served with the amazing sounds of local folk music and culture. During the Evening of Scottish Hospitality the GA participants had the opportunity to meet with a number of lawyers, legal counselors, and other professionals from the Glasgow region.
May we also offer our sincere thanks to David Walker, for organising such a splendid event.
More...
Connexx has its 6th General Assembly in Portugal
The 6th General Assembly took place in Lisbon Portugal on the 18th of October 2013. The meeting was held at the Altis Hotel and was well attended by member countries. Our President Mr Alex Dockers from Belgium welcomed everyone with discussions lasting until 3:30pm.
During the meeting, we were pleased to welcome Damir Site of Serbia as a full member. Damir is a qualified Lawyer who prefers to carry on his commercial business activities as a Judicial Officer. The system for Judicial Officers in Serbia is still very young, however Damir stated “I am very excited about the future of enforcement in my country, although quite new and currently geographically restricted. As the system of enforcement grows other opportunities will become available, becoming a full member of Connexx will widen my understanding of international enforcement and more importantly it will give me access to a wealth of knowledge and experience”.
During the meeting our President welcomed Jorge Castello Gasco and his senior associate also known as Jorge Gasco, who are two Justice Officers from Valencia in Spain, known as Procuradores. They explained that the system of civil justice in Spain is very different from other countries and that their function is to work very closely with Lawyers. They can check the current status of any lawsuit, they are also able to access any records during the lawsuit, and provide a forecast on how long the civil case will take. They do however spend a considerable amount of time in Court negotiating the service of documents and legal procedures.
It was very interesting to hear about the enforcement system in Spain, as perhaps it is not as straightforward as one would hope.
As the day progressed, what became very interesting was that each member was invited to give an update on the legal and procedural changes that are due to take place within their respective countries. Marc Schmitz of Belgium informed us that huge changes are immanent; Marc notified us that Belgium’s inner cabinet has decided to merge judicial districts in each and every province, therefore cutting the number of districts from 27 down to 12. The change is one of the biggest for many years. However the end result will see many Judicial Officers merging their businesses to become larger legal entities.
Martin Leyshon of England and Wales informed the members that new legislation will come into effect on April 6th 2014, when a single piece of Bailiff law will replace the 17 different forms of seizure governed by 59 different forms of legislation. It will be known as “Taking Control of Goods Act 2013” Martin stated “it has been a long time coming”.
Connexx members were then treated to a tour of Portugal’s National Chamber of the Procuradores by its President Jose’ Resende. We were very impressed with the professionalism of the Chamber and would wish to thank its President and his team for organising our 6th General Assembly in Portugal.
4th General Assembly
Connexx - European Debt Collection and Enforcement has its formal adoption
At the 4th General Assembly of Connexx which was held in Stuttgart Germany, located at the offices of one of our members BAYH & FINGERLE a German law firm specialising in debt collection, all members unanimously voted for the formal adoption of the Network’s Articles of Association.
Alex Dockers the President of Connexx stated “that he was very proud of this historic moment for Connexx, and that more importantly from not just an idea, but a demand from creditors all over Europe to have such an organisation, was very gratifying”.
The meeting started at 9am prompt and a lively discussion ensured that all members had their say, Martin Leyshon Vice President stated “that it is this pooling of idea’s from industry leaders within the debt collection and Judicial arena’s from around Europe that will make this Network very successful”.
The meeting concluded at around 4pm in the afternoon, and very grateful thanks was echoed to our hosts, Peter and Joachim Bayh partners of the above mentioned law firm.
For more information on Connexx please contact us at
Connexx holds its 2nd General Assembly meeting in the Netherlands
At the officers of GGN international, Connexx members held their 2nd General Assembly. The General Assembly was attended by representatives from 11 different Countries from around Europe. The meeting was chaired by the Chief Executive Officer of GGN, and also attended by the President of the Union International Hussiers de Justice (UIHJ) Mr Leo Netten.
During this meeting, which was only the second of its kind, discussions ensued as to the vision of Connexx, what were the synergies between the different countries involved? How much of a client demand was there for such a network? Did we require Articles of Association? What about a Website? Could we bring together a cohesive Network that could develop a single set of standards? What were the procedures in each Country?
There were a lot of unanswered questions at this stage, however, with a focused perspective and an iron will to succeed, particularly from its inaugural members, and indeed a collective vision, we were able to overcome a number of uncertainties. Representatives from France with the headphones attached, were enjoying instant translation from English to French. The meeting concluded at around 4pm to which the members were treated to a tour of GGN offices. The evening was an occasion were members were able to enjoy some hospitality provided by GGN and really get to know each other, with an eye on building and developing long term business relationships and friendships.
David Walker - representing Scotland. Martin Leyshon - representing England and Wales.
Jean – Dominique, Pierre Pesquet, and Harve Pierson - representing France.
