Views
Paris, the Jurisdiction of Choice?
On January 17th, the President of the Paris Commercial Court (Tribunal de commerce) inaugurated a new international division.
The new division, which is in fact the 3rd division of the court (3ème Chambre), is to be staffed with nine judges who speak foreign languages, and will therefore be able to assess evidence written in a foreign language. For now, the languages will be English, German and Spanish, as one juge speaking Spanish and two speaking German are currently on the court.
In an interview to the Fondation de droit continental (Civil law initiative), the President of the Court explained that the point was to make French justice more competitive and attract international cases. It also made clear that France was following Germany’s lead, where several international divisions were established in 2009 in Hamburg and Cologne.
French Commercial Courts
It should be pointed out to readers unfamiliar with the French legal system that French commercial courts are not staffed with professional judges, but with members of the business community working part-time at the court (and for free). In Paris, however, many of these judges work in the legal department of their company, and are thus fine lawyers.
Also, French commercial courts (and French civil courts generally) virtually never hear witnesses, so the issue of the language in which they may address the court does not arise.
Some issues
So, the new international division will be able to read documents in several foreign languages. However, nothing suggests that parties or lawyers will be able either to speak, or to write pleadings, in any other language than French. Lawyers arguing these cases will still need to file their pleadings in French, and thus to translate them in English beforehand for their clients. Furthermore, the interview of the Court’s President seems to suggest that using a foreign language will not be a right for the parties. Quite to the contrary, it seems that it will not be possible if one of the parties disagrees, and demands documents be translated in French.
Will that be enough to attract additional commercial cases to Paris?
I wonder whether introducing class actions in French civil procedure would have been more efficient in this respect.
For the full interview of the Court’s President, see after the jump.
News
Bonn University / HCCH Conference — The HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention: Cornerstones – Prospects – Outlook, 9 and 10 June 2023
Registration now open
Dates:
Friday and Saturday, 9 and 10 June 2023
Venue:
Universitätsclub Bonn, Konviktstraße 9, D – 53113 Bonn
Registration:
sekretariat.weller@jura.uni-bonn.de
| Registration Fee: | € 220.- |
| Young Scholars Rate (limited capacity): | € 110.- |
| Dinner (optional): | € 60.- |
Registration: Please register with sekretariat.weller@jura.uni-bonn.de. Please communicate your full name and your postal address (for accounting purposes). Clearly indicate whether you want to benefit from the young scholars’ reduction of the conference fees and whether you want to participate in the conference dinner. You will receive an invoice invoice per email for the respective conference fee and, if applicable, for the conference dinner. Please make sure that we receive your payment at least two weeks in advance to the conference (26 May 2023 at the latest). After receiving your payment we will send out a confirmation of your registration. This confirmation will allow you to access the conference hall and the conference dinner.
Please note: Access will only be granted if you are vaccinated against Covid-19. Please confirm in your registration that you are, and attach an e-copy of your vaccination document. Please follow further instructions on site, e.g. prepare for producing a current negative test, if required by University or State regulation at that moment. We will keep you updated. Thank you for your cooperation.
Accommodation: We have blocked a larger number of rooms in the newly built hotel “MotelOne Bonn-Beethoven”, https://www.motel-one.com/de/hotels/bonn/hotel-bonn-beethoven/, few minutes away from the conference venue. The hotel’s address is: Berliner Freiheit 36, D – 53111 Bonn. The contact details are: bonn-beethoven@motel-one.com, +49 228 9727860. These rooms need to be booked on your own initiative and account by making reservation with the Hotel and by referring to „Universität Bonn“. These rooms will be blocked until 22 April 2023 at the latest. As there will be several larger events in town at the date of our conference we recommend making arrangements for accommodation quickly.
Programme
Friday, 9 June 2023
8.30 a.m. Registration
9.00 a.m. Welcome notes
Prof Dr Matthias Weller, Director of the Institute for German and International Civil Procedural Law, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn;
Dr Christophe Bernasconi, Secretary General, HCCH
Moderators: Prof Dr Moritz Brinkmann, Prof Dr Nina Dethloff, Prof Dr Matthias Weller, University of Bonn; Prof Dr Matthias Lehmann, University of Vienna; Dr João Ribeiro-Bidaoui, Former First Secretary, HCCH; Melissa Ford, Secretary, HCCH
Part I: Cornerstones
- Scope of application
Prof Dr Xandra Kramer, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
- Judgments, Recognition, Enforcement
Prof Dr Wolfgang Hau, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Germany
- The jurisdictional filters
Prof Dr Pietro Franzina, Catholic University of Milan, Italy
- Grounds for refusal
Adj Prof Dr Marcos Dotta Salgueiro, University of the Republic, Montevideo; Director of International Law Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Uruguay
- Article 29: From a Mechanism on Treaty Relations to a Catalyst of a Global Judicial Union
Dr João Ribeiro-Bidaoui, Former First Secretary, HCCH
Dr Cristina Mariottini, Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for International, European and Regulatory Law, Luxembourg
1.00 p.m. Lunch Break
- The HCCH System for choice of court agreements: Relationship of the HCCH Judgments Convention 2019 to the HCCH 2005 Convention on Choice of Court Agreements
Prof Dr Paul Beaumont, University of Stirling, United Kingdom
Part II: Prospects for the World
- European Union
Dr Andreas Stein, Head of Unit, DG JUST – A1 “Civil Justice”, European Commission
- Perspectives from the US and Canada
Professor Linda J. Silberman, Clarence D. Ashley Professor of Law, Co-Director, Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration, and Commercial Law, New York University School of Law, USA
Professor Geneviève Saumier, Peter M. Laing Q.C. Professor of Law, McGill Faculty of Law, Canada
- Southeast European Neighbouring and EU Candidate Countries
Prof Dr Ilija Rumenov, Associate Professor at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, North Macedonia
8.00 p.m. Conference Dinner (€ 60.-)
Dinner Speech
Prof Dr Burkhard Hess, Director of the Max Planck Institute for International, European and Regulatory Law, Luxembourg
Saturday, 10 June 2023
9.00 a.m. Part II continued: Prospects for the World
- Perspectives from the Arab World
Prof Dr Béligh Elbalti, Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Law and Politics at Osaka University, Japan
- Prospects for Africa
Prof Dr Abubakri Yekini, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
Prof Dr Chukwuma Okoli, University of Birmingham, The Netherlands
- Gains and Opportunities for the MERCOSUR Region
Prof Dr Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm, Director of External Relations, Professor of Private International Law, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Perspectives for ASEAN
Prof Dr Adeline Chong, Associate Professor of Law, Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University, Singapore
- China
Prof Dr Zheng (Sophia) Tang, University of Newcastle, United Kingdom
1.00 p.m. Lunch Break
Part III: Outlook
- Lessons Learned from the Genesis of the HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention
Dr Ning Zhao, Principal Legal Officer, HCCH
- International Commercial Arbitration and Judicial Cooperation in civil matters: Towards an Integrated Approach
José Angelo Estrella-Faria, Principal Legal Officer and Head, Legislative Branch, International Trade Law Division, Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations; Former Secretary General, UNIDROIT
- General Synthesis and Future Perspectives
Hans van Loon, Former Secretary General, HCCH
Download poster as a PDF Document.
HCCH Monthly Update: January 2023
Conventions & Instruments
On 1 December 2022, the 2007 Maintenance Obligations Protocol entered into force for Ukraine. At present, 31 States and the European Union are bound by the Protocol. More information is available here.
On 7 December 2022, the 1961 Apostille Convention entered into force for Saudi Arabia. The Convention currently has 124 Contracting Parties. More information is available here.
On 1 January 2023, the 1980 Child Abduction Convention entered into force for Cabo Verde. The Convention currently has 103 Contracting Parties. More information is available here.
On 19 January 2023, El Salvador deposited its instrument of accession to the 1970 Evidence Convention. The Convention, which currently has 65 Contracting Parties, will enter into force for El Salvador on 20 March 2023. More information is available here.
Publications & Documentation
On 20 December 2022, the Permanent Bureau published the Practitioners’ Tool: Cross-Border Recognition and Enforcement of Agreements Reached in the Course of Family Matters Involving Children. More information is available here.
On 18 January 2023, the Permanent Bureau published the second edition of the Practical Handbook on the Operation of the Apostille Convention. More information is available here.
Other
On 13 December 2022, the Permanent Bureau celebrated the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the HCCH Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. More information is available here.
These monthly updates are published by the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), providing an overview of the latest developments. More information and materials are available on the HCCH website.
Conference in Milan on the European Account Preservation Order, 3 March 2023
On 3 March 2023, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart will host a conference titled The European Account Preservation Order – Six Years On. The aim is to discuss the operation of Regulation (EU) 655/2014 in light of practice and case law, six years after its provisions became applicable, in January 2017.
Presentations will be given in English and Italian, with simultaneous interpretation.
The speakers include Fernando Gascón Inchausti (Complutense University of Madrid), María Luisa Villamarín López (Complutense University of Madrid), Katharina Lugani (Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf), Antonio Leandro (University of Bari), Carlos Santalò Goris (Max Planck Institute, Luxembourg), Caterina Benini (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart), Elena Alina Ontanu (Tilburg University), Raffaella Muroni (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart), Elena D’Alessandro (University of Torino), and Gilles Cuniberti (University of Luxembourg).
The event will also serve as a launch event for an article-by-article commentary on the EAPO Regulation, edited by Elena D’Alessandro and Fernando Gascón Inchausti, and recently published by Edward Elgar Publishing in its Commentaries in Private International Law series. Augusto Chizzini (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart) and Luca Radicati di Brozolo (formerly of the same University, now partner at ArbLit) will discuss the commentary with the editors and the audience.
Attendance is free, but prior registration is required.
See the registration form and the full programme. For further information: pietro.franzina@unicatt.it