Procedural Sanctions in the EU Framework: Toward a Harmless Error Doctrine and Practice?

Procedural provisions are a very special kind of written guidelines, and their speciality lies in sanctions. If the rules are not observed, the act performed, even by an expert or a distinguished performer, will be void (at least in some part). This consideration leads us to the core of the problem: the real nature of procedural rules lies in the sanction. If there is no sanction, the rule changes its nature: from an order which must be strictly obeyed, to a mere suggestion, a guideline, as a cooking recipe or a music score, which can – or even must – be disregarded by a performer with good experience in the field.