European Small Claims Procedure

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Europeiskt småmålsförfarande - Engelska

Do you have a dispute with a company based in another EU country? A European Small Claims Procedure can be one way to have the dispute adjudicated and get your dispute resolved, provided that the dispute does not exceed 5000 euros.

Translated page: This text has been translated from Swedish. The text and appearance of the page may look different from the original page.

What is a European Small Claims Procedure?

  • The European Small Claims Procedure is a simplified court process for resolving cross-border disputes within the EU (all countries except Denmark).

  • You can use this procedure if the dispute concerns up to EUR 5 000 and relates to a civil claim, for example a product or service you bought from a company in another EU country.

  • The procedure is designed to be faster, cheaper and simpler than ordinary court cases.

This is how it works

  • The European Small Claims Procedure is usually a written procedure. It is carried out with the help of standard forms.

    How to do it:

    1. You start by filling in a standard application form (Form A), which is available on the EU e‑Justice Portal. You usually do not need to hire a lawyer The filing form is available on the European e-Justice Portal
    2. Send the form to the correct court. The application must be sent to the court that is competent to examine the case. List of national courts with jurisdiction on the European e-Justice Portal

    The court will then review your application and inform the other party, who has 30 days to respond. The case is usually decided in writing. The court may make a decision immediately, request more information or hold a short oral hearing (often digital). A decision is valid and can be enforced in all EU countries except Denmark, in the same way as a national judgment.

    Things to seriously consider before starting a small claims case

    If you are considering initiating a Small Claims Procedure, it is essential that you name the right defendant. It is also advisable to consider the circumstances of the defendant. If the other party has no attachable assets, a legal proceeding will only cause unnecessary costs for you, as even a successful outcome in your favour is unlikely to be of much benefit to you.

  • You as a consumer can use the Small Claims Procedure if:

    • you have bought something from a company
    • the company you bought from is located in another EU country
    • the amount in dispute is up to EUR 5 000
    • the dispute does not concern excluded areas, such as insolvency or employment law.

  • If you apply to start a European Small Claims Procedure, you need to pay a fee to the court. The fee varies between countries. In Sweden it is SEK 900.

    You may also need to pay for other things, such as translations or legal advice.

    If you win the case, you can often recover these costs. The party who loses the case usually pays both their own costs and the other party’s costs.

  • It is important that the correct court in the right country receives your application for a hearing in a European Small Claims Procedure. Often, the proper court for the dispute is referred to as the “competent court,” meaning the court for the place where the defendant is domiciled.

    Usually the court in the country where the company is based will hear the case. There are exceptions however, which mean that you as a consumer may instead be entitled to have the dispute heard in the country where you are habitually resident.

    Start by reading the terms and conditions of the contract

    You should start by checking whether the company’s contractual terms and conditions state that a particular court has jurisdiction to hear any dispute that may arise. Often, the contractual terms and conditions refer to that particular court as having “exclusive jurisdiction.”

    If there is no court designated

    If the contract lacks a clause stating which court has jurisdiction to hear a dispute, you may have different alternatives available to you depending on what the dispute is about. For contracts of carriage, such as air travel, there are special rules.

    Disputes concerning contracts of carriage, such as flights

    Unless there is a clause or provision designating a specific court to hear any disputes, you may have several options to choose from. You can choose between a court at the city of departure, your final destination as stated on your ticket, or where the airline is headquartered.

    Disputes concerning the purchase of goods or services

    If the contract does not provide for a specific court to hear the dispute, it may be possible under certain conditions for you to bring an action against the company in your local district court. An example of when this is possible is when the company targets its commercial activities to Sweden and it is not specified in the contract that a specific court has jurisdiction to hear the dispute.

    Competent courts with jurisdiction can be found on the European e-Justice portal

  • You can find out more about European Small Claims procedures on the European Commission’s Your Europe website.

    Further information about the European Small Claims Procedure is available on Your Europe

Proofread: 26 March 2026

The content is presented in collaboration with ECC Sweden, which is part of the ECC network and the Swedish Consumer Agency's information service. ECC Sweden is part-financed by the European Union.

The content of this website represents the views of the author only and it is his/her sole responsibility; it cannot be considered to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or the European Innovation Council and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Executive Agency (EISMEA) or any other body of the European Union. The European Commission and the Agency do not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.

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