The First Hall Civil Court (the “Court”) presided by
Mr Justice Neville Camilleri on the 6 July 2022, in the case
“Kunsill Malti għax-Xjenza u t-Teknoloġija
vs. Access UK Limited” held, among other things,
that the plea of the COVID-19 pandemic alone, at a time when
restrictions were being eased, did not justify a party's
contumacious state.
The facts, in this case, were as follows:
On 13 November 2019, Kunsill Malti għax-Xjenza u
t-Teknoloġija (“Plaintiff”) filed a sworn
application before the Maltese courts against Access UK Limited
(“Defendant”), whose offices were situated in the
United Kingdom.
The service of Plaintiff's sworn application in the United
Kingdom had to comply with Brussels Regulation 1393/2007 on the
service of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or
commercial matters documents between member states. Each member
state may designate a transmitting agency and a receiving agency,
whose function is to receive the judicial documents
