Views
A Resurrection of Shevill? – AG Szpunar’s Opinion in Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook Ireland (C-18/18)
Written by Anna Bizer
Anna Bizer, doctoral candidate at the University of Freiburg, has kindly provided us with her thoughts on AG Szpunar’s opinion in the case of Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook Ireland (C-18/18).
Since the EP-proposal from 2012, the European Union has not shown any efforts to fill the gap still existing in the Rome II Regulation regarding violations of personality rights (Article 1(2)(g)). However, Advocate General Szpunar has just offered some thoughts on the issue in his opinion on the case of Eva Glawischnig-Piesczek v Facebook Ireland Limited (C-18/18) from 18 June 2019. Read more
Conclusion of the HCCH Judgments Convention: The objectives and architecture of the Judgments Convention, a brief overview of some key provisions, and what’s next?
Prepared by Cara North, external consultant to the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). This post reflects only personal views.
Today marks a momentous occasion (in the private international law world at least): the conclusion of the Diplomatic Session on the HCCH Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (“Judgments Convention”). A Convention that, as noted by the Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (“HCCH”) during his opening remarks for the Session, will be a “gamechanger for cross-border dispute settlement and an apex stone for global efforts to improve real and effective access to justice.” Read more
DONE! An important day for global justice and the Hague Conference on Private International Law
Posted for the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH)
Today, the delegates of the 22nd Diplomatic Session of the HCCH signed the Final Act of the 2019 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters – the birth of new treaty and an important day for global justice as well as for the HCCH.
The signing of the Final Act took place during a ceremony in the Great Hall of Justice in the Peace Palace in the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mr Stef Blok.
The Minister emphasised that the new Convention: “enhances the legal certainty and predictability that is so important in international legal matters…”.
This new Convention will be essential to reducing transactional and litigation costs in cross-border dealings and to promoting international access to justice. It will increase certainty and predictability, promote the better management of transaction and litigation risks, and shorten timeframes for the recognition and enforcement of a judgement in other jurisdictions, providing better, more effective, and cheaper justice for individuals and businesses alike. A true gamechanger in international dispute resolution.
The Secretary General of the HCCH, Dr Christophe Bernasconi, stressed that the 2019 Judgments Convention fills an important gap in private international law. He also reminded delegates that with the signing of the Final Act, the work of promoting the 2019 Judgments Convention has only just begun. Professor Paul Vlas, President of the 22nd Diplomatic Session, echoed this sentiment and reiterated that the fast, wide and effective uptake of the Convention by the international community is its next milestone.
After the signing of the Final Act, Uruguay signed as first State the new 2019 Judgments Convention.
The text of the 2019 Judgments Convention, the HCCH’s 40th global instrument, will be available shortly on www.hcch.net.
News
Extended Deadline: Symposium and Special Issue on Private International Law and Sustainable Development in Asia
The United Nations Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seems to have a blind spot for the role of private and private international law. That blind spot is beginning to be closed. A collective volume with global outlook published in 2021 addressed “the private side of transforming our world”: each of the 17 SDGs was discussed in one chapter of the book devoted to the specific relevance of private law and private international law. In 2022, the IACL-ASADIP conference in Asunción, Paraguay discussed sustainable private international law with regard to Latin America; the contributions published in 2023 in a special issue of the University of Brasilia Law Journal – Direito.UnB., V.7., N.3 (2023).
CJEU, Case C-566/22, Inkreal v. Dúha reality: Choice of another Member State’s court in an otherwise purely domestic case is sufficient to apply Art. 25 Brussels Ibis Regulation
In its judgment of 8 February 2024, the CJEU had to decide whether “the application of the Brussels Ibis Regulation be based solely on the fact that two parties with their seat in the same Member State agree on the jurisdiction of courts of another EU Member State.”
The case concerned two loans granted to Dúha reality, a Slovak company, by a third party also domiciled in Slovakia, in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Both loan contracts contained an identical choice of forum clause stating that any ‘dispute shall be settled by a court of the Czech Republic having substantive and territorial jurisdiction’. In 2021, the receivables arising from those loan agreements were assigned to Inkreal, another purely Slovak business corporation, who upon non-payment by the debtor brought action in the Czech Republic. Seeking, inter alia, to determine the specific Czech court having territorial jurisdiction, the Czech Supreme Court (Nejvyšší soud) referred the question to the CJEU.
First Issue for Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly in 2024
The first issue for Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly in 2024 was published recently. It contains the following articles and case notes.
Articles:
Andrew Dickinson, “Electronic trade documents and the conflict of laws in the United Kingdom”
The Electronic Trade Documents Act 2023, which entered into force on 20 September 2023, seeks to facilitate the use of trade documents (including bills of exchange, promissory notes and bills of lading) in electronic form by assimilating these instruments, and their legal effects, to the equivalent paper trade documents, provided that the systems used to process the relevant information meet certain technological requirements. However, the Act contains no provision that expressly addresses the legislation’s cross-border dimension or its relationship to the United Kingdom’s conflict of laws rules. This article considers how these matters should best be addressed in order to secure the Act’s promised economic benefits.