DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Thomas Norvold, Søren Locher, Anne Mie Lund and Pawel Weigel, Fabritius Tengnagel & Heine
that the requested documents are or could be relevant to the case. The general rule is that everyone – except the parties or their close relatives – has a duty to testify in court unless they are exempted. A wit- ness is exempted from the duty to testify in court if their testimony is likely to: • expose the witness to self-harm or loss of well-being; • expose their closest relatives to self-harm or loss of well-being; or • inflict significant harm on the witness them- selves or their closest relatives. Witness testimony cannot be demanded from priests or other religious denominations, doc- tors, defenders, mediators or lawyers regarding matters that have come to their knowledge in the exercise of their profession. However, such indi- viduals can be compelled to provide testimony. See also 5.5 Legal Privilege . 5.2 Discovery and Third Parties According to the Danish Administration of Jus- tice Act, upon request of a party, the court may compel a third party to present or hand over documents within their control that are relevant to the case, unless doing so would reveal infor- mation about matters on which they would be prohibited or exempted from testifying as a wit- ness. A decision regarding the presentation of docu- ments is made after the person who has control over the documents has had the opportunity to express their views. The third party may demand their expenses incurred in the presentation to be prepaid by the
party, or may request security for the payment of expenses. 5.3 Discovery in This Jurisdiction Discovery is mainly centred around internal information that is not publicly available but is within the control of a party or a third party. This could include internal correspondence, financial information, bank statements and contracts. 5.4 Alternatives to Discovery Mechanisms In addition to the procedures mentioned in 5.1 Discovery and Civil Cases and 5.2 Discovery and Third Parties , a party may make proce- dural requests for the opposing party to present documentation and request the court to attrib- ute procedural consequences to the failure to present it. Whether the failure to present docu- ments is attributed procedural consequences by the court depends on an assessment of the specific matter. 5.5 Legal Privilege There is no obligation for parties or third parties to reveal information about matters on which they would be prohibited or exempted from tes- tifying as a witness. According to the Danish Administration of Jus- tice Act, attorneys are exempt from the duty to testify as witnesses. However, the court may compel an attorney (with the exception of criminal defence attorneys) to give testimo- ny when such testimony is deemed crucial to the outcome of the case and when the nature and significance of the case, both to the party and to society, justify requiring the testimony. In civil cases, this compulsion cannot extend to information an attorney has learned from a case entrusted to them for execution or in which their advice has been sought.
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