The rules relating to service of UPC claims may seem like a rather dusty and bureaucratic topic for a publication focussed on the real-world impact of the UPC. However, the whole UPC process operates on very rigid (and short, in legal process terms) timescales. Knowing where and how you might be served with a claim in the UPC and taking steps to control that can provide a significant time advantage in the ensuing procedure. Conversely, inaction risks a delay in the claim arriving with the correct team, typically the legal department or outside counsel, which may put the recipient under considerable time pressure.
Who Serves Documents?
The Registry of the UPC is responsible for serving documents on the parties to UPC proceedings (Rule 5, RoP). Hence the parties lodge documents, including Statements of Claim, centrally at the UPC, which then serves the relevant party. This arrangement is quite usual in European civil law systems but may be new to those accustomed to English civil litigation where, typically, the parties serve each other directly (copying the Court).
When lodging a Statement of claim, the claimant is required to include, amongst other things, the name of the party against whom the Statement is made (the defendant), and, where the defendant is a corporate entity, the location of its registered office together with postal and, where available, electronic addresses for service on the defendant and the names of the persons authorised to accept service, if known. Although it is often the case that some pre-action correspondence will have occurred and the relevant address for service will have been communicated, that is not always the case. The rules of procedure provide a degree of latitude in terms of the addresses which would constitute effective service. It is possible for a mischievous claimant to provide a more obscure, but legal, address to the court for service of the claim.
Where Can They Be Served?
Part 5, chapter 2 of the Rules of Procedure of the UPC set out the detail of where Statements of claim and other documents may be served. The first part deals with service within UPC member states and the second part deals with service outside the UPC.
As one might expect it is possible for a defendant to nominate an electronic address for service which may include the address of a UPC representative. One factor to consider when a UPC representative has been appointed as address for service is that the UPC may effect service wholly within the UPC case management system.
Where service by electronic means cannot be effected, the Registry may effect service by any means permitted: i) by Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 – the EU regulation on the service of documents in civil or commercial matters; or outside the UPC states ii) by the Hague Service Convention or iii) through diplomatic or consular channels.
Rule 271(5) sets out the places where service may be effected. Subsection (a) sets out that where the defendant is a company or other legal person, service may be effected at its statutory seat, central administration or principal place of business within the Contracting Member States or at any place within the Contracting Member States where the company or other legal person has a permanent or temporary place of business.
It is the bold part of that rule which gives rise to the opportunity for mischief. Note that although this rule is in the part relating to service within the UPC member states, there is no requirement for the defendant to be domiciled within the UPC states for this rule to apply.
Thus, where a party, which is domiciled outside the UPC Member States, has a temporary place of business within a UPC member state, service of a claim on that temporary location is considered effective.
An example illustrates the risk:
A US headquartered corporation has a distribution warehouse in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. A UPC claim may be effectively served by the sending of a registered letter to the warehouse address. It may take quite some time for that communication to arrive with the correct person to handle it, costing precious days. Under UPC rules the defendant only has a period of one month in which to raise any preliminary objections, e.g. relating to the jurisdiction or competence of the court or the language of proceedings. In such circumstances a delay of a few days can seriously disadvantage the recipient.
What Steps Should We Take To Protect Ourselves?
Where there has been pre-action correspondence, ensure that the potential claimant has been provided with an electronic address for service – either the potential defendant’s legal department or a nominated UPC representative.
Where a UPC representative is nominated, they should have processes in place to monitor the UPC CMS for service of claims.
Ensure that staff at business locations within UPC member states are aware of the need to forward legal notices/service documents with respect to the UPC on to their in-house legal team as soon as they are received, so that they can be dealt with in a timely manner and any preliminary objection can be filed by the 1 month deadline.
Marie-Claude Pellegrini
UPC Group
This publication is a general summary of the law. It should not replace legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.
© Withers & Rogers LLP February 2026
