III. THE LIMITATIONS WERE INTRODUCED AT THE TURN OF THE MILLENNIUM. THE FORT GROWTH OF CONSUMER LAW AND THE EUROPEANISATION OF CIVIL PROCEDURE In the context of the increasing Europeanisation of national legal systems, there is less room for manoeuvre for national legislators, so it is important to analyse the role of Member States’ procedural autonomy. There is also a growing question about whether this is a true and proper normative principle, rather than merely a factual description or a different framework. As mentioned, the principle of “institutional and procedural autonomy” of Member States concerns the relationship between European Union law and national civil procedure, the specific procedural law of each of them. With regard to the procedural mechanisms available to citizens to safeguard their rights arising from the Union’s legal order against national authorities - except in exceptional cases of harmonisation - the principle of institutional and procedural autonomy of Member States prevails. Since the early 2000s, Member States have faced a growing body of European legislation and case law on procedural matters, prompting some authors to question whether “procedural autonomy” still accurately captures the scope for national legislative shaping6. The Europeanisation of civil procedure is ongoing, and the EU’s influence on national civil procedure is described as expanding, in both depth and scope. IV. TENSION BETWEEN PROCEDURAL AUTONOMY AND HARMONISATION. PRINCIPLE EXPRESSING NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY OR DELIMITING COMPETENCES It is accepted that the rules of civil procedure in any national legal system embody important values and principles that vary across legal systems. The degree of variation will naturally depend on the nature of the specific procedural precept, but there may also be multiple approaches to the same procedural issue, differing to varying degrees. It is therefore unsurprising that EU law addresses the rules of civil procedure, since variations in applicable national rules can hinder cross6 Although the process of Europeanising national civil procedure has not yet come to an end, perhaps the room for manoeuvre is so limited that procedural autonomy is misleading, and Member States can no longer design their procedural systems as they deem appropriate. 31 THE PRINCIPLE OF MEMBER STATES’ PROCEDURAL AUTONOMY
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