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Belgian Court of Cassation and Ryanair’s forum clauses
On 8 February 2019 the Belgain Court of Cassation decided the case Happy Flights v Ryanair. The Dutch version of the decision is available here.
At issue was the validity of the clause in Ryanair’s general terms and conditions that the Irish courts have jurisdiction over disputes. The Court of Cassation quashed the decision of the Commercial Court of Brussels, which had considered only the formal validity of the choice-of-court clause.
The Court of Cassation confirmed that the consumer protection provisions of Brussels Ia do not apply (the contracts concern transport). It further found that according to Art. 25(1) of Brussels Ia the substantive validity of the clause (in a non-negotiated contract) was subject to Irish law (specifically the Irish implementation in Act 27/1995 of Directive 93/13/EEG on unfair terms in consumer contracts). The Court did not explicitly refer to Irish private international law (according to Consideration 20 of Brussels Ia), but directly to Act 27/1995.
It sent the case back to the Commercial Court of Leuven for a new assessment.
UK Supreme Court Judgment in Vedanta
Thank you to Veerle Van den Eeckhout for the tip-off.
On 10 April 10 2019, the UK Supreme Court handed down its much anticipated judgment in the “Vedanta” case (see here). The judgment is currently raising many comments and discussions on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), including from the perspective of Private International Law.
The PowerPoint (in French) of a presentation by Veerle Van den Eeckhout in March 2017 explains some Private International Law aspects of CSR, including the state of the Vedanta proceedings at that time and its context.
Expedited settlement of commercial disputes : The Commission’s Response
A Legislative initiative procedure which started nearly a year ago, is coming now to the next level: The European Commission has recently stated its position on the European Parliament non-legislative resolution with recommendations to the Commission on expedited settlement of commercial disputes. The response is featured in a document titled ‘Follow-up to the European Parliament non-legislative resolution with recommendations to the Commission on expedited settlement of commercial disputes’. The main issues addressed may be summarized as follows:
Creation of a European Expedited Civil Procedure (EECP)
The Commission will take the resolution as further inspiration to analyse simplifications to cross-border litigation, but not necessarily by a specific European Expedited Civil Procedure.
Possible changes to the Rome I, the Rome II and the Brussels Ia Regulations
The Commission will, as appropriate, consider issues concerning choice of law agreements and choice of court agreements within the framework of the review of the relevant instruments (the Rome I and the Brussels Ia Regulations).
Other measures – building competence in commercial law in Member States
The Commission will continue to support training and research in commercial law and to facilitate access to information on foreign law in the framework of non-legislative actions, including financial programmes.
Other measures – analysing establishment of the European Commercial Court
At this stage, it does not seem appropriate to engage in preparatory action concerning the establishment of a European Commercial Court. However, the Commission will consider the question of the desirability of further studies in this field.
The full text of the doc. document is available here.
Once there, scroll down to Documentation gateway, and open the European Commission box.