Expedited settlement of commercial disputes : The Commission’s Response

A Legislative initiative procedure which started nearly a year ago, is coming now to the next level: The European Commission has recently stated its position on the European Parliament non-legislative resolution with recommendations to the Commission on expedited settlement of commercial disputes. The response is featured in a document titled ‘Follow-up to the European Parliament non-legislative resolution with recommendations to the Commission on expedited settlement of commercial disputes’. The main issues addressed may be summarized as follows:

Creation of a European Expedited Civil Procedure (EECP)

The Commission will take the resolution as further inspiration to analyse simplifications to cross-border litigation, but not necessarily by a specific European Expedited Civil Procedure.

Possible changes to the Rome I, the Rome II and the Brussels Ia Regulations

The Commission will, as appropriate, consider issues concerning choice of law agreements and choice of court agreements within the framework of the review of the relevant instruments (the Rome I and the Brussels Ia Regulations).

Other measures – building competence in commercial law in Member States

The Commission will continue to support training and research in commercial law and to facilitate access to information on foreign law in the framework of non-legislative actions, including financial programmes.

Other measures – analysing establishment of the European Commercial Court

At this stage, it does not seem appropriate to engage in preparatory action concerning the establishment of a European Commercial Court. However, the Commission will consider the question of the desirability of further studies in this field.

The full text of the doc. document is available here.

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