Views
Views and News from the 9th Journal of Private International Law Conference 2023 in Singapore
Four years after the 8th JPIL conference in Munich, the global community of PIL scholars finally got another opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas, this time at Singapore Management University on the kind invitation of our co-editor Adeline Chong.
The conference was kicked off by a keynote speech by Justice Philip Jeyaretnam (Singapore International Commercial Court), providing an in-depth analysis of the Court of Appeal’s decision in Anupam Mittal v Westbridge Ventures II [2023] SGCA 1 (discussed in more detail here).
The keynote was followed by a total of 23 panels and four plenary sessions, a selection of which is summarised below by our editors.
The EU Sustainability Directive and Jurisdiction
The Draft for a Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence Directive currently contains no rules on jurisdiction. This creates inconsistencies between the scope of application of the Draft Directive and existing jurisdictional law, both on the EU level and on the domestic level, and can lead to an enforcement gap: EU companies may be able to escape the existing EU jurisdiction; non-EU companies may even not be subject to such jurisdiction. Effectivity requires closing that gap, and we propose ways in which this could be achieved.
(authored by Ralf Michaels and Antonia. Sommerfeld and crossposted at https://eapil.org/)
- The Proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence
The process towards an EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive is gaining momentum. The EU Commission published a long awaited Proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence (CSDDD), COM(2022) 71 final, on 23 February 2022; the EU Council adopted its negotiation position on 1 December 2022; and now, the EU Parliament has suggested amendments to this Draft Directive on 1 June 2023. The EU Parliament has thereby backed the compromise textreached by its legal affairs committee on 25 April 2023. This sets off the trilogue between representatives of the Parliament, the Council and the Commission.
No Sunset of Retained EU Conflict of Laws in the UK, but Increased Risk of Sunburn
By Dr Johannes Ungerer, University of Oxford
The sunset of retained EU law in the UK has begun: the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 received Royal Assent at the end of June. The Act will revoke many EU laws that have so far been retained in the UK by the end of 2023.
The good news for the conflict of laws is that the retained Rome I and II Regulations are not included in the long list of EU legal instruments which are affected by the mass-revocation. Both Regulations have been retained in the UK post-Brexit by section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and were modified by the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations and Non-Contractual Obligations (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (as amended in 2020). The retained (modified) Rome I and II Regulations will thus be part of domestic law beyond the end of 2023. Yet this retained EU law must not be called by name anymore: it will be called “assimilated law” according to section 5 of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (although the title of this enactment, like others, will strangely continue to contain the phrase “Retained EU Law” and will not be changed to “Assimilated Law”, see section 5(5)).
News
Out now: Buxbaum, “Extraterritoriality in Comparative Perspective” (Ius Comparatum)
In an increasingly interconnected world, the application of laws by States beyond their territorial borders is an everyday reality. Yet, almost a century after the (still) leading findings by the PCIJ in the Case of the S.S. “Lotus”, the details of the concept of “extraterritoriality” remain elusive, and one can easily get lost in the multitude of national practices, ranging from “presumptions against extraterritoriality” to be found mostly in federal systems (mostly for sub-units) to “effects doctrines” and the like in certain areas of law such as e.g. (early) in Germany, (later) in the EU’s competition law and today many other jurisdictions, in particular in Asia.
Given this complexity, this latest publication of the Ius Comparatum Series on “Extraterritoriality in Comparative Perspective” edited by Hannah L. Buxbaum offers a great deal of valuable guidance and insights. Featuring the reports from the most recent IACL/AIDC General Congress in Asunción, the volume provides the reader with unique insights by renowned legal scholars into the practices of 14 national jurisdictions (inter alia China, Germany, Japan, Korea, UK, U.S.) and the the European Union (EU). As is explained in the preface to the book:
Much of the vast scholarly literature on extraterritoriality approaches the topic from the outside in, assessing the extraterritorial projection of state law from the perspective of international law and the constraints it places on state authority. The goal of this project is to approach the topic from the inside out. Considering a range of legal systems, the authors investigate the geographic scope that states claim for their own laws, and the mechanisms by which states translate and locally implement principles of international jurisdictional law.
The Latin American and Caribbean Journal of International Law (LACJIL) has been launched
Today the Latin American and Caribbean Journal of International Law (LACJIL) was launched at the auditorium of the Hague Academy of the Peace Palace. Among the speakers were Prof. Diego Fernández Arroyo, president of the curatorium of the Hague Academy, and H.E. Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant, judge of the International Court of Justice. In addition, a very interesting panel was moderated by the Ambassador of Guatemala to the Kingdom of the Netherlands H.E. Ana Cristina Rodríguez Pineda. The panel was composed of the judge of the International Criminal Court H.E Althea Alexis-Windsor, the Ambassador of Colombia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands H.E. Carolina Olarte Bácares, the Ambassador of Argentina to the Kingdom of the Netherlands H.E. Mario J. A. Oyarzábal and the president of ASADIP Prof. Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm. The purpose of the panel was to discuss the recent legal developments in Latin America and the Caribbean, which included the ASADIP principles on transnational access to Justice (TRANSJUS). Read more
Seminar on the Lex fori processualis principle – University of Milan, 24 January 2025
The seminar The Lex fori processualis principle at the interface with EU judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters will take place on 24 January 2025 at the University of Milan. The seminar is organized as part of the 4EU+ Visiting Professorships Call, supported by the 4EU+ European University Alliance and co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
Hosted by the Department of International, Legal, Historical, and Political Studies of the University of Milan, the seminar will open with welcoming addresses (Antonella Baldi and Marco Pedrazzi) and an introduction (Francesca C. Villata). Bartosz Wolodkiewicz (University of Warsaw), currently a 4EU+ Visiting Professor at the University of Milan, will present the findings of his new book on foreign procedural law in civil judicial proceedings (Obce prawo procesowe w sadowym postepowaniu cywilnym, Wolters Kluwer 2024). Following this, a round table with international scholars will explore various aspects of the lex fori processualis principle, covering topics such as historical perspectives (Carlos Santaló Goris), legal standing (Lenka Válková), burden of proof (Martino Zulberti), ne bis in idem in EU judicial cooperation (Marco Buzzoni), and res judicata in international commercial arbitration (Michele Grassi). The seminar will conclude with a discussion and closing remarks by Elena D’Alessandro (University of Turin).
For more information on the 4EU+ Alliance, follow:
Facebook: 4EUplusAlliance
Instagram: 4euplus_alliance
LinkedIn: 4EUplus
#4EUplusAlliance #EuropeanUniversities #GrowingInMotion
With thanks for the tip-off to Dr Lenka Válková, University of Milan