Views
The complexity of the post Brexit era for English LLPs and foreign legal professionals in EU Member States: a French perspective
Written by Sophie Hunter, University of London (SOAS)
In light of the turmoil in the UK Parliament since the start of 2019, the only certain thing about Brexit is that everything is uncertain. The Law Society of England and Wales has warned that “if the UK’s relationship with the rest of the EU were to change as the result of significant renegotiations, or the UK choosing to give up its membership, the effects would be felt throughout the legal profession.” As a result of Brexit, British firms and professionals will no longer be subject to European directives anymore. This foreshadows a great deal of complexity. Since British legal entities occupy a central place within the European legal market, stakes are high for both British and European lawyers. A quick overview of the challenges faced by English LLPs in France and the Paris Bar demonstrates a high level of complexity that, is not and, should be considered more carefully by politicians. Read more
The Aftermath of the CJEU’s Kuhn Judgment – Hellas triumphans in Vienna. Really.
Written by Stephan Walter, Research Fellow at the Institute for German and International Civil Procedure Law, University of Bonn, Germany
Claims brought by creditors of Greek state bonds against Greece in connection with the 2012 haircut do not fall under the substantive scope of the Brussels Ibis Regulation because they stem from the exercise of public authority. Hence, they cannot be regarded as civil and commercial matters in the sense of Article 1(1) Brussels Ibis Regulation. This is the essence of the CJEU’s Kuhn judgment (of 15 November 2018, Case C-308/17, ECLI:EU:C:2018:911), which was already discussed on this blog.
In said blog post, it was rightly pointed out that the judgment could be nothing but a Pyrrhic victory for Greece. Not least the – now possible – application of national (sometimes exorbitant) jurisdictional rules was considered to have the potential to backfire. This was, however, only the case, if Greece was not granted immunity in the first place. In short: the fallout of the CJEU’s judgment was hardly predictable. Read more
Is there a need for international conventions on legal parentage (incl. international surrogacy arrangements)?
The Experts’ Group on Parentage / Surrogacy of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) has answered in the affirmative.
At its fifth meeting earlier this year, the Experts’ Group agreed that it would be feasible to develop both:
- a general private international law instrument on the recognition of foreign judicial decisions on legal parentage; and
- a separate protocol on the recognition of foreign judicial decisions on legal parentage arising from international surrogacy arrangements (abbreviated as “ISA”).
As announced on the HCCH website, the Experts’ Group will recommend to the governance body of the HCCH (i.e. Council on General Affairs and Policy) during its meeting in March 2019 that “work continue with a view to preparing proposals for inclusion in future instruments relating to the recognition of judicial decisions.” The Council will have the last word.
In my opinion, there are many reasons for drafting two separate instruments, which may range from legal to political as these are very sensitive topics. One that particularly struck me relates to the indirect grounds of jurisdiction when considering the recognition of such decisions:
“Most Experts concluded that the indirect grounds previously identified in the context of general legal parentage would not work in ISA cases, and instead supported the State of birth of the child as the primary connecting factor in an ISA case as this would provide certainty and predictability. A qualifier to that connecting factor (such as the habitual residence of the person giving birth to the child) might be necessary to guarantee sufficient proximity, as well as to prevent and combat trafficking of persons and law evasion.” See also para 25 of the Report.
Please note that these instruments would deal with the recognition and not with the enforcement of foreign judicial decisions given the nature of decisions on legal parentage. See in contrast my previous post on the HCCH draft Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters.
The HCCH news item is available here.
The full report is available here.
News
The collection of the V Workshop Jean Monnet Network – BRIDGE “El Derecho Internacional Privado en las Relaciones entre la Unión Europea y América Latina” is now available
crosspost from https://eurolatinstudies.com
The collection of assignments presented here is the result of the V Workshop Jean Monnet Network – BRIDGE on “El Derecho Internacional Privado en las Relaciones entre la Unión Europea y América Latina” which took place on April 19th, 2023, in hybrid mode, at University of Sevilla, Spain. This initiative promoted an intense debate on the theoretical and practical aspects about international law and the relations between European Union and Latin America, with the presence of professors and researchers from several universities.
The proceedings are part of the activities developed by Jean Monnet Network project called “Building Rights and Developing Knowledge between European Union and Latin America – BRIDGE”, co-financed by the Erasmus+ Program of European Commission (620744-EPP-1-2020-1-BR-EPPJMO-NETWORK), composed of a consortium of seven Latin American and European universities.
The articles presented at the Workshop were previously evaluated through Call for Papers, launched in January 2023, and selected by the Organizing Committee composed of Professors Aline Beltrame de Moura (Federal University of Santa Catarina), Beatriz Campuzano Días and Mª Ángeles Rodríguez Vázquez (both from University of Sevilla, Spain). Part of the articles selected for presentation at the Workshop were published in Anais do V Workshop Jean Monnet Network – BRIDGE and the others were published in the V edition of the Latin American Journal of European Studies (2023-1).
Final Update: Repository HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention
Today, we are on the eve of the HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention’s entry into force. This gives us the opportunity to offer the final instalment of our Repository on the HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention and to bring this project to its end. However, the CoL General Editors will preserve the Repository’s final state as first entry to the CoL Materials.
Conference at the University of Milan: EU Private International Law: a Look into the Future 50 Years after the Entry into Force of the 1968 Brussels Convention
Michele Grassi (University of Milan) has kindly shared the following announcement with us:
The Department of Italian and Supranational Public Law of the University of Milan will host, on September 14 and 15, a conference on “EU Private International Law: a Look into the Future 50 Years after the Entry into Force of the 1968 Brussels Convention”, in cooperation with the European Group for Private International Law. The event is co-founded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU (Jean Monnet Module on Family and Succession Law Matters in EU Private International Law and Jean Monnet Module on EU Private International Law Rules on Obligations in a Digitalised World).
The conference will consider the relationship of EU PIL acts with third States and the new perspectives and gaps to fill in the EU judicial cooperation in civil matters. Speakers and chairs of the panels include: Fausto Pocar (University of Milan, Emeritus), Hans van Loon (former Secretary-General of the HCCH), Pietro Franzina (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan), Christian Kohler (University of Saarland, Emeritus) Zeno Crespi Reghizzi (University of Milan), Patrick Kinsch (University of Luxembourg), Etienne Pataut (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Cristina González Beilfuss (University of Barcelona), Luigi Fumagalli (University of Milan), Andrea Bonomi (University of Lausanne), Francesca Villata (University of Milan), Támas Szabados (University of Budapest), Stefania Bariatti (University of Milan), Andreas Stein (EU Commission).
Participation is free of charge, but you are kindly asked to register at the following link: https://forms.office.com/e/SYhcX0pi1e
The flyer can be found here; for further information, feel free to contact michele.grassi@unimi.it.