UPC CFI, LD Mannheim, 30 January 2026 : A penalty order may be issued by the Judge-rapporteur alone
12-02-2026 Print this page
Panel review of a judge rapporteur penalty order. (R. 333 RoP) .
A penalty order may be issued by the Judge-rapporteur alone. (R. 354.4 RoP, R 1.2(a) RoP).
Rule 354.4 RoP makes clear in its last sentence, that “after having heard both parties the Court may make an appropriate order which may be subject to an appeal pursuant to Rule 220.2.”.
“The Court” is interpreted pursuant to Rule 1.2(a) RoP , which states that the respective act may be performed by the presiding judge or the judge rapporteur of the panel.
Rule 354.4 RoP is the only place, where the Rules refer to “first instance panel of the division” as opposed to “panel of the Court”. The rule wants to make clear, that an enforcement application is to be handled by the same Panel – in the sense of an organizational unit of the CFI – which dealt with the decision on the merits.
There is no reason, why an application for enforcement should always be dealt with by the whole panel.
Whether the operative part of the panel decision or order has been complied with, can adequately and more efficiently be dealt with, if the Judge rapporteur decides upon the application first and if the Panel only gets involved upon application for review .
Any enforcement order may be reviewed by the CoA, but does not exclude a panel review under R. 333 RoP beforehand.
R. 333 RoP does not have to be restricted to “case management decisions or orders” which are of organizational purpose. Rather “case management” can be understood broadly so it also encompasses orders, which deal with if a decision or order has been complied with.
