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The impact of Brexit on the operation of the EU legislative measures in the field of private international law
On 28 February 2018, the European Commission published the draft Withdrawal Agreement between the EU and the UK, based on the Joint Report from the negotiators of the two parties on the progress achieved during the first phase of the Brexit negotiations.
The draft includes a Title VI which specifically relates to judicial cooperation in civil matters. The four provisions in this Title are concerned with the fate of the legislative measures enacted by the EU in this area (and binding on the UK) once the “transition of period” will be over (that is, on 31 December 2020, as stated in Article 121 of the draft).
Article 62 of the draft provides that, in the UK, the Rome I Regulation on the law applicable to contracts and the Rome II Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations will apply, respectively, “in respect of contracts concluded before the end of the transition period” and “in respect of events giving rise to damage which occurred before the end of the transition period”.
Article 63 concerns the EU measures which lay down rules on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of decisions. These include the Brussels I bis Regulation on civil and commercial matters (as “extended” to Denmark under the 2005 Agreement between the EC and Denmark: the reference to Article 61 in Article 65(2), rather than Article 63, is apparently a clerical error), the Brussels II bis Regulation on matrimonial matters and matters of parental responsibility, and Regulation No 4/2009 on maintenance.
According to Article 63(1) of the draft, the rules on jurisdiction in the above measures will apply, in the UK, “in respect of legal proceedings instituted before the end of the transition period”. However, under Article 63(2), in the UK, “as well as in the Member States in situations involving the United Kingdom”, Article 25 of the Brussels I bis Regulation and Article 4 of the Maintenance Regulation, which concern choice-of-court agreements, will “apply in respect of the assessment of the legal force of agreements of jurisdiction or choice of court agreements concluded before the end of the transition period”(no elements are provided in the draft to clarify the notion of “involvement”, which also occurs in other provisions).
As regards recognition and enforcement, Article 63(3) provides that, in the UK and “in the Member States in situations involving the United Kingdom”, the measures above will apply to judgments given before the end of the transition period. The same applies to authentic instruments formally drawn up or registered, and to court settlements approved or concluded, prior to the end of such period.
Article 63 also addresses, with the necessary variations, the issues surrounding, among others, the fate of European enforcement orders issued under Regulation No 805/2004, insolvency proceedings opened pursuant to the Recast Insolvency Regulation, European payment orders issued under Regulation No 1896/2006, judgments resulting from European Small Claims Procedures under Regulation No 861/2007 and measures of protection for which recognition is sought under Regulation No 606/2013.
Article 64 of the draft lays down provisions in respect of the cross-border service of judicial and extra-judicial documents under Regulation No 1393/2007 (again, as extended to Denmark), the taking of evidence according to Regulation No 1206/2001, and cooperation between Member States’ authorities within the European Judicial Network in Civil and Commercial Matters established under Decision 2001/470.
Other legislative measures, such as Directive 2003/8 on legal aid, are the object of further provisions in Article 65 of the draft.
The domino effect of international commercial courts in Europe – Who’s next?
Written by Georgia Antonopoulou and Erlis Themeli, Erasmus University Rotterdam (PhD candidate and postdoc researchers ERC project Building EU Civil Justice)
On February 7, 2018 the French Minister of Justice inaugurated the International Commercial Chamber within the Paris Court of Appeals following up on a 2017 report of the Legal High Committee for Financial Markets of Paris (Haut Comité Juridique de la Place Financière de Paris HCJP, see here). As the name suggests, this newly established division will handle disputes arising from international commercial contracts (see here). Looking backwards, the creation of the International Commercial Chamber does not come as a surprise. It offers litigants the option to lodge an appeal against decisions of the International Chamber of the Paris Commercial Court (see previous post) before a specialized division and thus complements this court on a second instance. (more…)
Court of Appeal of Ljubljana and implied consent to application of Slovenian law by not- contesting the application of Slovenian law in first and in appellate instance
Written by Dr. Jorg Sladic, Attorney in Ljubljana and Assistant Professor in Maribor (Slovenia)
In judgment of 25 October 2017 in case I Cpg 1084/2016 (ECLI:SI:VSLJ:2017:I.CPG.1084.2016) published on 31 January 2018 the Slovenian Appellate Court ruled on a question of implied consent to application of Slovenian law. (more…)
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HCCH|Approach Global Event
The HCCH is pleased to announce that registration for the HCCH|Approach Global Event is now open!
Join us online on Tuesday, 19 October for a day of panel discussions and talks by global experts on occasion of the 25th anniversary of the HCCH 1996 Child Protection Convention.
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CJEU on international element requirement for jurisdiction over consumer contracts in the case Commerzbank, C-296/20
Is the international (foreign) element required at the outset, at the time of conclusion of the contract, in order to trigger the applicability of the rules on jurisdiction of the Lugano II Convention on jurisdiction over consumer contracts and to protect the consumer from being sued outside of the State of his (her) domicile?
This is the question that the Court of Justice addresses in its judgments delivered this Thursday in the case Commerzbank, C-296/20.
Interesting Transnational Cases from the U.S. Supreme Court’s “Long Conference,” Earlier this Week
The Supreme Court’s so-called “Long Conference” was held on Monday. At this meeting of the Justices to start the Court’s new Term, they decide among the thousands of petitions that have piled up over the summer recess which ones warrant the Court’s review. Looking at the petitions discussed in this conference can be a bellwether for the types of issues percolating through the U.S. courts. Here, I will provide a summary of a few that might be interesting to readers of this site.
First and foremost, regular court-watchers will see a rerun from last term, when the Court decided to resolve a stubborn split of authority regarding discovery pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1782 and whether it can be invoked in support of a private, commercial arbitration. The case granted from last term (Servotronics, Inc. v. Rolls-Royce PLC) settled before it could be argued and decided, but the same issue has come forward again. The petition in ZF Automotive US v. Luxshare Ltd., from the Sixth Circuit, again asks “[w]hether 28 U.S.C. § 1782(a), which permits litigants to invoke the authority of United States courts to render assistance in gathering evidence for use in ‘a foreign or international tribunal,’ encompasses private commercial arbitral tribunals, as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 4th and 6th Circuits have held, or excludes such tribunals, as the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 2nd, 5th and 7th Circuits have held.”
Another common component of nearly every Supreme Court term are cases involving the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. This year is no different—and it is another case of World War II-era stolen artwork. This year, the petition in Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation asks “[w]hether a federal court hearing state law claims brought under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act must apply the forum state’s choice-of-law rules to determine what substantive law governs the claims at issue, or whether it may apply federal common law.” This issue presents another split of authority on federal statutory interpretation, with the Ninth Circuit in conflict with the Scond, Fifth, Sixth and D.C. Circuits.
The Federal Arbitration Act is another frequent flyer on the Supreme Court docket. Among several petitions regarding this Act is an interesting decision from the highest court in Delaware, which seemingly split from the decisions of two federal appellate courts and failed to apply the Supreme Court’s increasingly stringent guidance to enforce arbitration agreements. The question presented in Eni USA Gas Marketing LLC v. Gulf LNG Energy, LLC is, in essence, whether the Federal Arbitration Act allows a court to disregard a broadly-written arbitration clause—which vests the question of arbitrability to the arbitrators—simply because one party asserts that the claim to be arbitrated constitutes a “collateral attack” on a prior award.
Some of these petitions may be granted—statistically, most will not. But even if they are denied, their inclusion here demonstrates the discord that exists among the U.S. court on issues that touch upon international litigation, arbitration, and foreign sovereign relations.
For a full accounting of the most promising cases discussed at the “long conference,” and links to the pleadings in the cases discussed above, see the exhaustive treatment done here by SCOTUSBlog.