The European Small Claims Procedure from Spain: up to €5,000 without a lawyer, a court fee or mandatory pre-trial negotiation
A German shop never refunded the €600 for the bike, a Dutch firm took a deposit for a kitchen and vanished, a former neighbour in Portugal will not repay a loan, an Italian hostel kept your deposit. The sum is small, a lawyer costs more than the dispute, and going to court “somewhere in Germany” sounds impossible. The EU has a procedure for exactly this: the European Small Claims Procedure, one form, often your own court, a written process and a judgment enforced in the defendant’s country with no further formalities. Since 2025 it has one more advantage in Spain: an ordinary claim now requires a documented attempt to settle before filing; the European one does not.
This is for you if:
• you live in Spain and the other party is a company, sole trader or private person in another EU country (not Denmark);
• you claim up to €5,000 (interest and costs do not count) or an item or action worth up to €5,000;
• the dispute is civil or commercial: a purchase, a service, a subscription, a deposit, a debt, a broken contract;
• it is not an employment, family or inheritance matter, and not a housing tenancy dispute other than about money;
• you want to avoid a lawyer, or you yourself have received these forms from a court in another EU country.
Is the European Small Claims Procedure right for me
Five questions and you know whether you can file Form A, in which court and under which rules: no lawyer, no court fee, no mandatory pre-trial negotiation.
The procedure in one minute
The European Small Claims Procedure has worked in every EU country except Denmark since 2009 and, since 2017, covers claims up to €5,000. Everything runs on forms: you file Form A, the court sends it to the defendant with Form C, the defendant replies, the court gives judgment and, as a rule, nobody travels anywhere. A lawyer is not required for either side. In Spain the claim carries no court fee, and a consumer can file it at the court of their own town. The judgment is enforced in any other EU country without separate recognition: the court issues the Form D certificate free of charge, and with it you go to the enforcement authority in the debtor’s country.
Why in 2026 this is the main route for a small cross-border dispute
Since 3 April 2025 you cannot file an ordinary civil claim in Spain without proving that you first tried to settle: mediation, negotiation through lawyers, a binding offer. That means months and often money. The European small claim is exempted from that requirement in the law itself: Form A is admitted with no prior attempt. Add three things an ordinary claim lacks or charges for: there is no court fee, for private individuals or for companies; no lawyer or procurador is needed at any amount up to €5,000 (in the national juicio verbal you can go without them only up to €2,000); and the form is completed in the court’s language, while other documents are translated only if the court cannot decide without it. If a company or a person in another EU country owes you up to €5,000, this is the cheapest way to an enforceable judgment.
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Step 1. Check three conditions and choose the court
Amount: no more than €5,000 on the day the court receives the form, excluding interest and costs. A €4,800 debt plus interest is within the limit. If you claim an item or an action rather than money, put a value on it: the defendant may dispute the value, and the court will then decide whether the case stays in the procedure.
Countries: at least one party must live or be registered outside the country of the court. You in Spain and the seller in Germany: fine. Both parties in Spain: no, your route is then the juicio verbal. The other party in the UK, Switzerland, Norway or the USA: also no, the procedure works only inside the EU, and Denmark does not take part.
Subject: money for goods, a service, a hire car, an unreturned deposit, a contractual debt, a package holiday. Not covered: employment disputes, maintenance and family matters, inheritance, disputes about the right to occupy a home, defamation.
Court. Since 2026 the first-instance court in Spain is the Tribunal de Instancia: disputes over sales, services, rentals and debts go to its Sección Civil for your partido judicial (the former Juzgado de Primera Instancia), while disputes arising from transport contracts, maritime and air law go to the Sección de lo Mercantil of the province; passenger claims under the EU passenger-rights regulations stay with the Sección Civil. The exact court and its address are in the Ministry of Justice’s Buscador de órganos. Which town: if you bought as a consumer from a company that directed its activities to Spain, you may sue where you live, and the company cannot sue you anywhere else. Whether activities were directed to Spain is assessed by the court as a whole: delivery to Spain, directions for travelling from Spain, a telephone number with an international code, a .es or neutral domain, advertising and reviews by Spanish customers. The Spanish language and prices in euros do not count on their own if they are the seller’s usual language and currency; a website that is merely accessible from Spain does not count either. The exception is a contract of transport: a plane, train, bus or ferry ticket without accommodation gives no right to sue at home (only a package “transport + accommodation for an inclusive price” does). If you are a sole trader, the dispute is between two private persons, or it concerns a ticket, the court is the one for the place where the goods were to be delivered or the service performed, or for the defendant’s domicile; often that is Spain too. If a foreign court has jurisdiction, Form A is filed there, in its language, but everything else in the procedure is the same.
Step 2. Fill in Form A
The form is the same across the EU and is completed online on the e-Justice portal: choose a language, answer the questions, download the PDF. For a Spanish court, complete it in Spanish or in the co-official language of the region where the court sits; a Spanish court accepts English only for the Form D certificate when enforcing a foreign judgment. What is inside and how to get it right:
- Court: the name and address of your Tribunal de Instancia, Sección Civil (or the province’s Sección de lo Mercantil if the dispute arises from a transport contract); find them in the Buscador de órganos. Where a town has several judicial units, the form goes to the common registry (decanato) and is assigned.
- Parties: your details and the defendant’s, with an address in their country. For a company, take the registered address from its website or the companies register; without an address the court cannot serve the documents.
- Ground of jurisdiction: tick “consumer’s domicile” if you bought for yourself from a company that directed its activities to Spain and it is not a transport ticket; otherwise “place of performance of the contract” or “defendant’s domicile”.
- Cross-border nature: your country of residence and the defendant’s.
- Claim: amount, currency, interest (it can be claimed separately and does not count towards the limit) and, above all, a short dated account: what you ordered, what you paid, what you received, what you wrote and when.
- Evidence: list every document and attach copies: order, payment, emails, photos, your written demand. The court does not ask for a legal assessment, only facts.
- Hearing: state that you accept a written procedure, or ask for a video hearing if one is needed. Consenting to electronic service speeds things up.
- Sign and attach copies. The originals stay with you.
Step 3. File the form
Three ways. In person: at the registry office or decanato of the courts of your partido judicial, with a copy for the receipt stamp. By post: registered letter to the same court. Electronically: through the sede judicial electrónica with Cl@ve or a digital certificate; for private individuals the electronic route is optional, for companies it is mandatory. Help with the form is free: the courts’ citizen service offices and, for consumer disputes, the European Consumer Centre, which will also try to settle with the seller before court.
Step 4. What happens next and how long it takes
The deadlines are written into the regulation itself. Within 14 days of receiving a properly completed form, the court sends the defendant your form with its attachments and Form C for the reply. The defendant has 30 days. The court forwards the reply to you within 14 days. The court then has 30 days to give judgment, or to ask the parties for more information (also within 30 days), or to call a hearing, normally by video link; after a hearing, judgment follows within 30 days. If the defendant stays silent, the court gives judgment on your form and evidence: silence is no escape. If the defendant counterclaims for up to €5,000, the counterclaim runs in the same procedure; for more, the whole case moves to ordinary proceedings.
One detail that catches many people in Spain: deadlines in the European procedure are counted under the EU regulation on time limits, in calendar days, weekends and holidays included, not in “working days” as Spanish courts usually do. But if the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the period ends at the end of the next working day. Check the dates against the calendar.
Step 5. Judgment and money
The judgment is enforceable at once, even if the defendant appeals, and no security is required from you. If the defendant is in Spain, enforcement follows the normal course at the court. If the defendant is in another EU country, ask the court for the Form D certificate: it is free and, on request, the court issues it in the official language of the country of enforcement using the multilingual form. With a copy of the judgment and the certificate you go to the enforcement authority in the debtor’s country; there the judgment is enforced on the same terms as a domestic one, without recognition and without the debtor being able to oppose recognition. You need no representative and no address in that country, and no security is demanded of you as a foreigner. A translation of the certificate is required only where the country of enforcement demands it; the free text of the judgment is translated by a sworn translator. Enforcement can be refused in one case only: an earlier, incompatible judgment between the same parties on the same subject.
The reality the official pages leave out: a judgment does not create money. If the company has no accounts and no assets, there is nothing to enforce. So before filing, check that the company is still alive in its companies register, and claim interest and costs in the form so the enforcement authority can collect everything in one go.
If you are the one being sued
The same procedure can land on your doormat: an envelope from a court in Portugal or Poland with Form A and Form C. The rules mirror each other. You have 30 days from service to reply; the reply must be in the language of that court, Form C exists as a template in every EU language but is completed in the court’s language. No lawyer is required. If you are a consumer and the company sued you outside the court of your home, say so in your reply: a consumer may only be sued at home (except in disputes over a transport contract without accommodation). If you do not reply, judgment is given without you and enforced in Spain through the Sección Civil of the Tribunal de Instancia for your address. If you were never served the form and learned of the judgment only from the enforcement officer, you have 30 days from that moment to ask the court that gave the judgment to review it.
If it does not work
The court returns the form with Form B: something is missing or unclear. Complete it within the time given, otherwise the claim is dismissed and you start again. The defendant argues that your non-monetary claim is worth more than €5,000: the court decides within 30 days whether the case stays in the procedure or moves to Spanish proceedings. The judgment goes against you: up to €3,000 there is no appeal in Spain, the judgment is final; from €3,000 to €5,000 the appeal is lodged through the same court with the Audiencia Provincial within 20 working days of notification. The defendant neither replies nor pays after judgment: the only route is enforcement with Form D in their country; the ECC can tell you which authority enforces judgments there.
Traps
- Interest and costs do not count towards the €5,000 limit, but a principal of €5,001 already takes the case out of the procedure: the court will propose handling it under national rules.
- The UK is not the EU: against a British company the procedure is not available, although the ECC and a card dispute still work. Norway and Iceland are outside too, and Denmark does not take part.
- Deadlines run in calendar days under the EU regulation on time limits, holidays included, but a last day that falls on a weekend or holiday moves the end of the period to the next working day. They are not días hábiles.
- Spain’s civil procedure act, in its provision on the European small claim, still cites the old jurisdiction regulation 44/2001; the court applies the current Regulation 1215/2012, and your right to sue at home as a consumer is unchanged.
- The defendant reimburses only costs proportionate to the claim. A trip to a hearing over a €400 claim will not be proportionate: ask for a video link.
- The EU’s ODR platform closed in 2025; advice to “file through ODR” is out of date. Before court, a letter to the seller and the ECC do the work.
- Housing tenancy is outside the procedure except for money: recovering a deposit, yes; contesting an eviction, no.
Real cases: six Court of Justice rulings that show where the procedure works and where it does not
A Slovak electricity supplier filed a European small claim for €423.74 against a Slovak debtor and named its Czech debt-collection company as a second party to make the dispute “cross-border”. ZSE Energia claimed €423.74 for electricity in the court of Dunajská Streda; both it and the debtor were in Slovakia. To use the European procedure, the company listed as a participant the Czech ZSE Energia CZ, which handled collection for a fee. The Slovak court asked the Court of Justice whether a foreign “intervening party” makes a case cross-border and whether the regulation allows such participation at all.
What was not obvious. For the cross-border test, “parties” means only the claimant and the defendant. The regulation makes no provision for third parties, and a company invited in from abroad does not open the door to the procedure. If claimant and defendant live in the country of the court, the case stays national.
Outcome: the Court of Justice ruled that a dispute in which claimant and defendant are domiciled in the state of the court falls outside the regulation — for €423.74 the supplier had to use the ordinary Slovak process.
For a reader in Spain this is the main filter: against a Spanish company or a neighbour in Spain the European small claim is not available, your route is the juicio verbal (with a mandatory pre-trial settlement attempt since April 2025). Whether a case is cross-border is judged on the day the court receives Form A.
Court of Justice of the European Union, Tenth Chamber · 22.11.2018 · ECLI:EU:C:2018:941
A Swedish claimant won only part of her claim against a French newspaper, appealed only the split of costs — and the newspaper demanded €2,040 from her for translations. Ms Jonsson found her video and a still from it on the website of the newspaper L’Est Républicain and filed a European small claim in Sweden: €1,950 in compensation and about €1,530 in costs. The first-instance court awarded €1,101 and split the costs under the Swedish rules on partial success; the newspaper, for its part, claimed €2,040 in translation costs. The appeal court asked the Court of Justice whether the “loser pays” rule allows such a split.
What was not obvious. Where a claim succeeds only in part, the court may leave each party with its own costs or divide them, under national law. Two limits: the rules for European cases may not be less favourable than for domestic ones, and may not discourage use of the procedure by saddling a largely successful claimant with their own costs.
Outcome: the Court of Justice confirmed that splitting costs on partial success is permitted; the final figures were for the Swedish court. Translations turned out to be the largest cost item in a €1,950 dispute.
In Spain costs are allocated by the court under the juicio verbal rules: on partial success each side usually bears its own. Claim exactly what you can prove, and remember that translating the defendant’s documents is a real cost of a cross-border case.
Court of Justice of the European Union, Third Chamber · 14.02.2019 · ECLI:EU:C:2019:124
A resident of Nuremberg sued a Munich tour operator in his home-town court for €1,499.86; both parties were in Germany, and only the destination was abroad. The traveller bought a package holiday to a non-EU country from FTI Touristik and, believing he had not been warned about visa rules, claimed €1,499.86 in the court of Nuremberg, where he lives. The tour operator objected that under German rules the claim belonged at its Munich seat. The court asked the Court of Justice whether the “consumer’s home court” rule applies when the only foreign element is the destination.
What was not obvious. The rule that a consumer sues at home fixes not only which country is competent but also the specific court within it: the court of the district where the consumer lives. It applies even when both parties are from the same country and only the performance of the contract is abroad.
Outcome: the Court of Justice held that the court of the consumer’s domicile has jurisdiction, territorially too; the case went back to Nuremberg on the merits.
This is the twin of ZSE Energia: a trip abroad brings the EU jurisdiction rules into play but does not turn a dispute between two Spanish parties into a “cross-border” one for the European small claim. When the defendant is abroad, however, this very rule is what sends you to the Sección Civil of the Tribunal de Instancia for your partido judicial — for a package holiday, not for a stand-alone ticket, to which the consumer-court rule does not apply.
Court of Justice of the European Union, Second Chamber · 29.07.2024 · ECLI:EU:C:2024:646
An Austrian did not take the freighter voyage he had paid a German company for through a website and claimed his money back at home; a German refused to pay an Austrian hotel he had found online, and the hotel sued him in Austria. Mr Pammer booked, through an intermediary’s website, a voyage on a freighter operated by the German Reederei Karl Schlüter, declined to travel and claimed a refund in an Austrian court. Mr Heller found the Austrian Hotel Alpenhof online, booked, was dissatisfied and did not pay; the hotel sued him in Austria while he insisted on a German court. Austria’s Supreme Court asked when a trader “directs” its activities to the consumer’s country merely by having a website.
What was not obvious. Mere accessibility of a website from the consumer’s country is not enough. Before the contract, the website and the trader’s overall activity must show an intention to deal with customers from that country: an international character, another language or currency, telephone numbers with an international code, a foreign top-level domain, itineraries from other countries, reviews by foreign customers. The list is open and the national court weighs it.
Outcome: the Court of Justice gave the list of indicators of “directed activity”; for Pammer it added that a freighter cruise is a “trip with accommodation for an inclusive price”, covered by consumer protection. The merits were decided by the Austrian courts.
These indicators are your answer to the tool’s question “did the company direct its activities to Spain?”. Delivery to Spain, directions for travelling from here, a telephone number with an international code, advertising and reviews by Spanish customers — the court weighs them as a whole, and then you may file Form A where you live. The Spanish language and prices in euros prove nothing on their own if they are the seller’s usual language and currency, and a website that is merely accessible is not an indicator. The ruling was given under the previous jurisdiction regulation; its successor 1215/2012 repeats the same rule.
Court of Justice of the European Union, Grand Chamber · 07.12.2010 · ECLI:EU:C:2010:740
An Austrian sued Facebook Ireland in Vienna over his own account and the accounts of seven other people who had assigned him their rights; the company argued that an author and lecturer is not a consumer. Max Schrems claimed in the Vienna court, among other things, €4,000 over his personal account and acted on the rights of seven other users from Austria, Germany and India who had assigned their claims to him. Facebook argued that someone who publishes books, gives lectures and raises donations for litigation is not a consumer and so cannot sue at home. Austria’s Supreme Court asked the Court of Justice about both the status and the assigned claims.
What was not obvious. The user of a private account remains a consumer even if he writes books, lectures and accepts assigned rights. But the “home court” privilege is personal: you may bring only your own claims to your own court, not other consumers’ claims assigned to you.
Outcome: the Court of Justice kept Schrems’s consumer status for his own claims and closed the door to the assigned claims in the court of his domicile.
For the European small claim this means you file for yourself. Collecting neighbours’ or relatives’ claims against the same foreign seller and filing them all at your Tribunal de Instancia will not work — each person has their own Form A and their own court.
Court of Justice of the European Union, Third Chamber · 25.01.2018 · ECLI:EU:C:2018:37
A Czech carrier obtained in Prague a European order for payment against an Austrian insurer; the documents were served in Czech only, without translation and without the form on the right to refuse. O.K. Trans Praha obtained a European order for payment against an insurer (its successor is Catlin Europe in Cologne). The order was served together with the application in Czech, without a translation and without the standard form informing the addressee of the right to refuse an untranslated document. The debtor missed the deadline to object and asked for a review; the Czech Supreme Court asked the Court of Justice about the consequences of such service.
What was not obvious. An addressee in another country must be informed by the standard form of the right to refuse a document that is neither in a language they understand nor in the language of the place of service. Without it the order does not become enforceable and the time to object does not start to run at all; the defect is cured by serving again with the form, not by reviewing the decision.
Outcome: the Court of Justice ruled that the time to object had not started and the order had not become enforceable until the debtor was informed of the right to refuse untranslated documents.
The case concerns the European order for payment, but the service rule is common to cross-border cases: since 1 July 2022 it is laid down in the service regulation 2020/1784 (Form L, two weeks to refuse). For the European small claim this means two things: file Form A in the court’s language and budget for a translation for the defendant, or their 30 days will not start; and if Form C reaches you in a language you do not understand, you have the right to refuse it.
Court of Justice of the European Union, Fifth Chamber · 06.09.2018 · ECLI:EU:C:2018:675
All six disputes reached the Court of Justice from other countries — Slovakia, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Czechia — but the rules are the same across the Union and a Spanish court is bound to follow them. We check which one decides your case.
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FAQ
Do I need a lawyer?
No, neither to claim nor to defend, at any amount up to €5,000. You may hire one, but the court will reimburse the fee only in the proportionate part.
What does it cost?
There is no court fee in Spain: private individuals are exempt from court fees generally, and for the European small claim Spain has declared that companies pay none either. What remains are your costs for copies, postage and, if needed, translating documents.
Can I file in English?
No: Form A, the reply and the list of evidence are submitted in the language of the court; in Spain that is Spanish or the co-official language of the region. A Spanish court accepts English only for the Form D certificate when you enforce another country’s judgment here. Other attached documents will be translated only if the court cannot decide without it.
Do I have to write to the seller first, or go to mediation?
Writing is worth it: a dated written demand is your best evidence and often settles the matter. A mandatory pre-trial settlement attempt does not exist for the European small claim, unlike an ordinary Spanish claim.
Can I sue a private person?
Yes, if they live in another EU country and the dispute is civil: a debt, the sale of an item, a deposit. The court is determined by the place of performance of the contract or the defendant’s home.
How long does it take?
Under the regulation: 14 days to serve, 30 to reply, 14 to forward the reply to you, 30 for the judgment. In practice longer, because of postage and court workload, but without a hearing the case fits into a few months.
Sources
- Reglamento (CE) 861/2007 por el que se establece un proceso europeo de escasa cuantía, texto consolidado (Reg. (UE) 2015/2421: límite 5 000 €, procedimiento escrito, vista por videoconferencia, formulario D multilingüe).
- Reglamento (UE) 1215/2012, arts. 17–18 (contratos de consumo: el consumidor puede demandar ante el tribunal de su propio domicilio y solo puede ser demandado allí), art. 7.1 (lugar de entrega o de prestación del servicio), arts. 62–63 (domicilio).
- Ley Orgánica 1/2025, de 2 de enero, de medidas en materia de eficiencia del Servicio Público de Justicia, art. 5 (requisito de procedibilidad: negociación previa obligatoria desde el 03.04.2025; apartado 3: no se exige para el proceso europeo de escasa cuantía ni para el requerimiento europeo de pago).
- Ley 1/2000 de Enjuiciamiento Civil, disposición final 24.ª (Juzgado de Primera Instancia o de lo Mercantil, hoy Secciones Civil y de lo Mercantil de los Tribunales de Instancia, LO 1/2025; lo no previsto se rige por el juicio verbal; cómputo de plazos según Reglamento 1182/71; ejecución en España de sentencias de otros Estados: Juzgado del domicilio del demandado, traducción oficial del certificado), arts. 23.2 y 31.2 (sin procurador ni abogado en el juicio verbal hasta 2 000 €), art. 455.1 (sin apelación hasta 3 000 €).
- Ley Orgánica 6/1985 del Poder Judicial, arts. 84–85 y 87 (Tribunales de Instancia: Sección Civil del partido judicial; Sección de lo Mercantil de la provincia para transporte, derecho marítimo y aéreo, salvo reclamaciones de pasajeros por los Reglamentos 261/2004, 2021/782, 181/2011 y 1177/2010), art. 231 (lenguas cooficiales).
- Buscador de órganos judiciales del Ministerio de Justicia (órgano competente y dirección por partido judicial).
- Ley 10/2012 de tasas judiciales, art. 4.2 a) (las personas físicas están exentas).
- Reglamento (CE) 1896/2006 (proceso monitorio europeo: sin límite de cuantía, para deudas que el deudor no discute).
- Centro Europeo del Consumidor en España — vía judicial: proceso europeo de escasa cuantía.
- Portal Europeo de e-Justicia — ficha de España (órganos competentes, medios de presentación, tasas, lenguas aceptadas, recursos).
- Formulario A (demanda), formulario dinámico oficial.
Updated: 02.10.2026. Change history: article published; legal basis checked against the texts of Regulations 861/2007 and 1215/2012 (EUR-Lex), Organic Law 1/2025, the LEC and Law 10/2012 (BOE), Spain’s entry on the e-Justice portal and ECC Spain on 02.10.2026.
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