At what point does the time limit for bringing an action start?
The commencement of the time limit for bringing an action is determined by law with the opening of the authorisation to bring an action. In practice, however, there are two prevailing doctrines as to when the notice of commencement of proceedings is issued:
In the commentaries on the CCP, it is said that the opening of the notice of commencement of proceedings takes place with the postal delivery or with the handover at the conciliation hearing. The second doctrine, on the other hand, states that the opening is already accompanied by the issuance of this document. How is the law applied correctly?
In practice, at the end of a conciliation hearing, both parties are opened the authorisation to sue with the information about the three-month time limit to sue – orally and on the record. This can also only be done with the announcement that the conciliation authority will soon serve the plaintiff with the written authorisation to sue.
With this oral, recorded opening, the procedural prerequisite of the opening of the authorisation to sue is already fulfilled. In this context, the term “opening” only includes being brought to the attention of the court and not the service of the written statement of defence. Thus, the time limit for bringing an action still starts during the hearing.
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