News
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.
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.
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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.
