In the order of October 13, 2023, the Court of Appeal ruled that a statement of claim may be validly served even if annexes mentioned in the statement of claim are not attached, provided that the statement of claim enables the defendant to assert its rights in court proceedings before the UPC even without the annexes. In this case, however, a request by the defendant for an extension of the time limit shall be granted. As a rule, the time limits for filing an objection (Rule 19.1 of the Rules of Procedure) or a statement of defense (Rule 23 of the Rules of Procedure) are to be extended by the period during which the attachments were not available.
In the previous instance, the Local Chamber Munich (LKM) had also ruled that the action was validly served even without the annexes mentioned therein. However, the LKM had still rejected a request for an extension of the defendant’s deadline on the grounds that the annexes were available to the defendant, so the delay in making the annexes available did not justify an extension of the deadline.
The Court of Appeal argues that this consideration of the LKM in refusing to extend the time limit is contrary to the purpose of Rule 13.2 of the Rules of Procedure, which requires the applicant to attach one copy each of all documents referred to in the application. Therefore, the principles of fairness and equity require that an appropriate extension of time be granted.
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