Views
The saga of the Greek State bonds and their haircut: Hellas triumphans in Luxemburg. Really?
By Prof. Dr. Peter Mankowski, University of Hamburg
The Greek State financial crisis has sent waves of political turmoil throughout the Eurozone and is certainly going to continue. It has provided much enrichment for International Procedural Law, yet not for the creditors of Greek State bonds. ‘Haircut’ has become an all too familiar notion and part of the Common Book of Prayers of State bonds. Some creditors, particularly from Germany and Austria, were not content with having their hair cut involuntarily and put it to the judicial test. Greece has thrown every hurdle in their way which she could possibly muster: service, immunity, lack of international jurisdiction. The service issue was sorted out by the CJEU in Fahnenbrock (Joined Cases C-226/13 et al., ECLI:EU:C:2015:383), already back in 2015. The German BGH and the Austrian OGH took fairly different approaches, the former granting immunity to Greece because of the haircut, the latter proceeding towards examining the heads of international jurisdiction under the Brussels Ibis Regulation. Quite consequently, the OGH referred some question concerning Art. 7 (1) Brussels Ibis Regulation to the CJEU. Read more
Legal Aid Reform in the Netherlands: LASPO 2.0?
Written by Jos Hoevenaars, Erasmus University Rotterdam (postdoc researcher ERC project Building EU Civil Justice)
Early November, the Dutch Minister of Legal Protection Sander Dekker presented his plans for the overhaul of the Dutch system for subsidized legal aid. In his letter of 9 November 2018 to Parliament Dekker cites the increasing costs of subsidized legal aid over the past two decades (42% in 17 years) as one of the primary reasons underlying the need for reform. Read more
Policy discussions on ADR/ODR in France: towards greater regulation for the Legaltech?
Current policy discussions on ADR/ODR in France: towards greater regulation for the Legaltech?
By Alexandre Biard, Erasmus University Rotterdam (postdoc researcher ERC project Building EU Civil Justice)
In April 2018, the French government published a new draft legislation aimed at reforming and modernizing the French Justice system (Projet de loi de programmation 2018-2022 et de réforme pour la Justice). Among other things, the proposal is likely to trigger some significant changes in the French ADR/ODR landscape, and may have important consequences for the future development of the legaltech. The proposal is currently discussed before the French Parliament and Senate. The following elements should be noted: Read more
News
Book by Lydia Lundstedt on trade secrets in PIL
Fresh from the print comes the book titled Cross-Border Trade Secret Disputes in the European Union: Jurisdiction and Applicable Law authored by Lydia Lundstedt, Senior Lecturer in Private International Law at the Stockholm University and Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law at the Linköping University.
The book is offering an EU perspective on one of the important ways the companies are protecting their intellectual property and information in general. This book examines different approaches to trade secret protection in the EU Member States, and focuses on the jurisdiction and applicable law under Brussels I bis, Rome I and Rome II.
The book is available here, and code LUND35 will secure a 35% discount on the book price.
Revue Critique de droit international privé – issue 2023/2
The second issue of the Revue critique de droit International privé of 2023 was released in August. It contains four articles and several case notes.
The first part of the issue features the doctrinal work of two young authors, who confront PIL techniques with contemporary developments in social sciences.
The first article Pour une approche décoloniale du droit international privé (A Decolonial Approach to Private International Law) is authored by Dr Sandrine Brachotte (Université Saint-Louis & Université de Lille). Following her doctoral work on The Conflict of Laws and Non-secular Worldviews: A Proposal for Inclusion (see presentation over at EAPIL), Dr Brachotte discusses colonial studies’ implications for PIL scholarship. She examines how plural normativities challenge the traditional conception of conflict of laws and then outlines the potential form of a decolonial PIL. An English translation of the article is available on the website of the editor. Its abstract reads as follows:
Call for Paper: Private International Law and Business Compliance in Asia Pacific
This national conference will be held on 21 February 2024 at The University of Sydney Law School in Australia.
Business compliance in international transactions across the Asia-Pacific region holds immense importance for organizations seeking to expand their activities within this dynamic and evolving landscape. Multinational corporations operating in Asia Pacific often confront unique compliance challenges due to the swiftly changing regulatory and geopolitical environment in the region.



