GERMANY Law and Practice Contributed by: Tanja Pfitzner, Fabian von Schlabrendorff and Niklas-Arne Hecht, Pfitzner Legal
orders if the assets covered by the order lie within the German jurisdiction. In general, injunctive orders and judgments of Ger- man courts can be enforced abroad under interna- tional conventions. However, conventions such as the Recast Brussels Regulation or the Lugano Convention 2007 often do not allow ex parte orders to be enforced or at least impose an additional burden on the appli- cant if the order was issued ex parte. 6.6 Third Parties and Injunctive Relief An applicant may apply for an injunctive order against any party. It is not necessary that the opponent is a party to the main action. However, an injunctive order is only granted if the applicant has its own claim against the third party. The latter is the case – eg, if a third party can be held liable vis-à-vis a party for the negative outcome of the main action. 6.7 Consequences of a Respondent’s Non- Compliance A party that does not comply with the provisions of an injunction faces the same consequences as a party that does not comply with a regular judgment. In addi- tion, if a party violates an injunctive order, the other party may request a fine of up to EUR250,000 or, in rare cases, arrest. In German civil proceedings usually an oral hearing takes place. A purely written procedure is the excep- tion. In the oral hearing, the presiding judge will open the proceedings with a summary of the view of the court regarding the factual and legal issues of the case, usually followed by a discussion with the par- ties and their attorneys. Since the oral hearing is prepared to a large extent by the written pleadings of the parties, generally the discussion will focus on the points raised by the court. The essentials of the hearing are recorded by the pre- siding judge in the presence of the parties. 7. Trials and Hearings 7.1 Trial Proceedings
The court and the parties are under an obligation to conduct the proceedings as expediently as possible and to limit the number of hearings to a minimum. Therefore, generally only one hearing takes place if no taking of evidence is necessary. If evidentiary pro- ceedings are necessary, these usually take place on a separate date. Based on the introduction of the case and the discus- sion with the parties and their attorneys, the court will usually try to settle the case. This applies at every stage of the proceedings. The possibility already contained in the Code of Civil Procedure to hold an oral hearing as a videoconfer- ence where only the court has to be present in the courtroom while the parties, their attorneys, witnesses and experts can be elsewhere, was given life in recent years and was partially amended by law in 2024. In addition, new rules for cross-border video hear- ings in civil proceedings have been in force since 1 October 2024. German courts can now connect par- ties and their representatives by video conference for court hearings within the EU and hear them without the need for a letter rogatory. This is made possible by a new regulation in Article 5 of the EU Digitalisation Regulation, which Germany is the first member state to apply. The new regulation does not cover the exam- ination of witnesses, nor does it apply to the hearing of experts in a videoconference. In these cases, the legal assistance route under the EU Evidence Taking Regulation must still be followed – ie, authorisation from the other member state must be obtained. 7.2 Case Management Hearings German procedural law so far has not expressly pro- vided for case management hearings. In practice, the court mainly structures the proceedings through writ- ten court orders, in which the court sets deadlines for written pleadings and prepares the oral hearing. However, the court also has the option of ordering an early first hearing in which it discusses the case with the parties at an early stage and, on basis of these discussions, can decide on the further course of action. This possibility has been strengthened by the legislature in recent years and is also used by some courts as a case management hearing.
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