Samenvatting

This article deals with chapter 13 of the CEPEJ report European judicial systems on the execution of court decisions. Unfortunately the report doesn't answer the question how far court decisions are being executed. The report does give information on organisations and agents involved in the enforcement of court decisions. The author gives an impression of the big differences existing between European countries in this field. Most important is the distinction between states where the responsibility for enforcement lies with public authorities and those where this responsibility is left to private agencies. The CEPEJ report seems to suggest that various European countries do a lot more than the Netherlands to guarantee that the law actually takes its course. In the Netherlands state responsibility is limited to the maintenance of means which can be used by parties - for their own cost and risk - in order to compel the execution of a court decision.