CYPRUS Law and Practice Contributed by: Kyriacos Scordis, Alexandros Gavrielides, Chara Pieri and Demetris Yiannakou, Scordis, Papapetrou & Co LLC
3.5 Rules of Service Under the CPR a claim form is required to be served on every defendant, subject to the power of the court to dispense with service in excep- tional circumstances. The general rule is that the claim form may be served within the jurisdic- tion by such method as the parties may have agreed in writing. If there is no written agreement between the parties, service of the claim form is effected by licensed private process-servers instructed by the claimant(s). In the case of a natural person, service of the claim form should normally be personal or on any person over 16 years old which is a member of the family and was in the town at the time of service or is responsible at the defendant’s place of work. In the case of a legal person and in the absence of any other specific legislative provision, service of the claim form should be effected on one of the company’s officers or at the registered office or at the place of business on a person authorised to accept such service. As regards service of a claim form outside the jurisdiction, the leave of the court to serve out of the jurisdiction is not required in cases where the Recast Brussels I Regulation or the Service Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 2020/1784) are applicable. In all other cases, the permission of the court to serve out of the jurisdiction is required and the court may grant such leave if one of the conditions set out in the CPR for the granting of permission to serve the claim out of the jurisdiction are satisfied, ie, if the claim: • is brought with respect to a breach of con- tract committed within the jurisdiction; • is brought with respect to a civil wrong and the damage has occurred/will occur within the jurisdiction or arises out of an act commit- ted/likely to be committed within the jurisdic- tion;
dispute would be subject to the jurisdiction of the Cypriot courts). In summary, the national rules concerning juris- diction permit a Cypriot court to assume jurisdic- tion over a claim directed against a defendant not domiciled in Cyprus or having other “foreign elements” if the writ of summons is served on the defendant in Cyprus, if the defendant sub- mits to the jurisdiction of the Cypriot court or (in respect of claims directed against defendants not domiciled in Cyprus) if the conditions set out in the Civil Procedure Rules for the grant- ing of permission to serve the claim out of the jurisdiction are satisfied (generally these require a connection with Cyprus). Under the national rules, the court has a discretion to stay a claim over which it has jurisdiction if it is satisfied that the courts of another state are “clearly and dis- tinctly” a more appropriate forum for the trial of the action. If the Cypriot courts have jurisdic- tion over a claim, the question of which specific District Court has jurisdiction is determined with reference to the provisions of the Courts of Jus- tice Law of 1960 regarding territorial jurisdiction. 3.4 Initial Complaint Under the CPR claims are generally commenced by means of a “Part 7 Claim Form”. By way of exception, a “Part 8 Claim Form” may be used in cases where the facts are not expected to be disputed and/or where the proceedings are required by law to be commenced by originating summons, petition or some other form of origi- nating document. A claim form can be amended at any time before it is served on the defendant(s). If the claim form is served on the defendant(s) then it can be amended only with the consent of the parties or with the leave of the court.
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