European electronic access point
Article 4
1. A European electronic access point shall be established on the European e-Justice Portal. 2. The European electronic access point may be used for electronic communication between natural or legal persons or their representatives and competent authorities in the following instances: (a) procedures provided for in Regulations (EC) No 1896/2006, (EC) No 861/2007 and (EU) No 655/2014; (b) procedures provided for in Regulation (EC) No 805/2004; (c) proceedings for recognition, a declaration of enforceability or refusal of recognition provided for in Regulations (EU) No 650/2012, (EU) No 1215/2012 ( 39 ) and (EU) No 606/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulations (EC) No 4/2009, (EU) 2016/1103 ( 40 ) , (EU) 2016/1104 ( 41 ) and (EU) 2019/1111; (d) procedures related to the issuance, rectification and withdrawal of: (i) extracts provided for in Regulation (EC) No 4/2009, (ii) the European Successions Certificate and the attestations provided for in Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, (iii) certificates provided for in Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012, (iv) certificates provided for in Regulation (EU) No 606/2013, (v) attestations provided for in Regulation (EU) 2016/1103, (vi) attestations provided for in Regulation (EU) 2016/1104, (vii) certificates provided for in Regulation (EU) 2019/1111; (e) the lodging of a claim by a foreign creditor in insolvency proceedings under Article 53 of Regulation (EU) 2015/848; (f) communication between natural or legal persons or their representatives with the Central Authorities under Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 and Regulation (EU) 2019/1111 or the competent authorities under Chapter IV of Directive 2003/8/EC. 3. The Commission shall be responsible for the technical management, development, accessibility, maintenance, security and user technical support of the European electronic access point. The Commission shall provide the user technical support free of charge. 4. The European electronic access point shall contain information for natural and legal persons on their right to legal aid, including in cross-border proceedings. It shall also enable their representatives to act on their behalf. The European electronic access point shall allow natural and legal persons, or their representatives, in the instances referred to in paragraph 2, to file claims, launch requests, send and receive procedurally relevant information and communicate with the competent authorities, or be served with judicial or extrajudicial documents. Communication through the European electronic access point shall comply with the requirements of Union law and national law of the relevant Member State, in particular with regard to form, language and representation. 5. Competent authorities shall accept communication through the European electronic access point in the instances referred to in paragraph 2. 6. Provided that a natural or legal person or their representative has given prior express consent to the use of the European electronic access point as a means of communication or method of service, competent authorities shall communicate with that natural or legal person or their representative in the instances referred to in paragraph 2 using that access point, and may serve documents on them through that access point. Each instance of consent shall be specific to the procedure in which it is given and shall be given separately for the purposes of communication and service of documents. Where a natural or legal person intends to use the European electronic access point on their own initiative for communication in proceedings, they shall be able to indicate their consent in that initial communication. 7. The European electronic access point shall be such as to ensure that users are identified.