The workshop organized by the EP JURI Committee on the review of the Brussels I regulation, originally scheduled on 20 September 2011 (see our previous posts here and here) is taking place in Brussels this morning (h 10.00 – 12.00).
The live video streaming is broadcasted on this page. The link to the recorded session can be found here.
On Tuesday, 20 September 2011, the EP Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) will host in Brussels a workshop on the review of the Brussels I regulation. The round table, chaired by Tadeusz Zwiefka (EP rapporteur on the Brussels I proposal), will be followed by the presentation of the study “Interpretation of the Public Policy Exception as referred to in EU Instruments of Private International and Procedural Law”, prepared by Prof. Burkhard Hess and Prof. Thomas Pfeiffer (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg) on behalf of the Commission. Here’s the programme:
[UPDATE: the live video streaming of the workshop will be broadcasted on this page. The recorded session will be later available in the EP’s Multimedia Library]
9:00 – 9:10 Welcome and opening remarks by Tadeusz Zwiefka, Rapporteur.
9:10 – 10:20 Analysis of the main elements of reform of Brussels I Regulation – Round Table:
10:20 – 11:00 Questions and answers.
11:00 – 11:10 Presentation of the Study on the “Interpretation of the Public Policy Exception as referred to in EU Instruments of Private International and Procedural Law” by Professor Burkhard Hess and Professor Thomas Pfeiffer, Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privat- und Wirtschaftsrecht der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.
11:10 – 11:20 Questions and answers.
11:20 – 11:30 Closing remarks by the Rapporteur.
(Many thanks to Prof. Koji Takahashi for providing the links to the video sessions)
As announced in the past months, on 16 March 2011 the Commission presented the proposals for two regulations on property rights of “international” married couples and registered partnerships:
The proposals are accompanied by a Communication from the Commission “Bringing legal clarity to property rights for international couples” – COM(2011) 125 of 16 March 2011 – which describes the difficulties faced by international couples in the current framework of EU legislation and national rules of the 27 Member States (see also the figures presented in the press release and the related FAQs).
The origin of the initiative dates back to the early days of the “communitarisation” of the conflict of laws. According to the Explanatory Memorandum to doc. COM(2011) 126:
The adoption of European legislation on matrimonial property regimes was among the priorities identified in the 1998 Vienna Action Plan. The programme on mutual recognition of decisions in civil and commercial matters adopted by the Council on 30 November 2001 provided for the drafting of an instrument on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of decisions as regards ‘rights in property arising out of a matrimonial relationship and the property consequences of the separation of an unmarried couple’. The Hague programme, which was adopted by the European Council on 4 and 5 November 2004, set the implementation of the mutual recognition programme as a top priority and called on the Commission to submit a Green Paper on ‘the conflict of laws in matters concerning matrimonial property regimes, including the question of jurisdiction and mutual recognition’, and stressed the need to adopt legislation by 2011.
A thorough research on the matter was previously carried in 2003 at an academic level, on behalf of the Commission, by the TMC Asser Instituut and the Département de droit international of the Catholic University of Leuven (UCL) (the whole study – Final Report in French and Country Reports on the legislation of Member States – can be downloaded from the Documentation Centre of the DG Justice, Freedom and Security). The Green Paper on conflict of laws in matters concerning matrimonial property regimes, including the question of jurisdiction and mutual recognition, was published on 17 July 2006, and received nearly forty replies in the public consultation launched by the Commission.
The 2009 Stockholm Programme came back to the need of European legislation in the field, stating that mutual recognition should be extended to matrimonial property regimes and the property consequences of the separation of unmarried couples. The need was further stressed in the ‘EU Citizenship Report 2010: Dismantling the obstacles to EU citizens’ rights‘ (p. 5 ff.), adopted on 27 October 2010, where the Commission announced for 2011 an official legislative initiative. The drafting of the proposals is summarised as follows in the Explanatory memorandum:
A group of experts, PRM/III, was set up by the Commission to draw up the proposal. The group was made up of experts representing the range of professions concerned and the different European legal traditions; it met five times between 2008 and 2010. The Commission also held a public hearing on 28 September 2009 involving some hundred participants; the debates confirmed the need for an EU instrument for matrimonial property regimes that covered in particular applicable law, jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of decisions. A meeting with national experts was held on 23 March 2010 to discuss the thrust of the proposal being drafted.
Finally, the Commission conducted a joint impact study on the proposals for Regulations on matrimonial property regimes and the property consequences of registered partnerships. [see doc. n. SEC(2011) 327 fin. and SEC(2011)328 fin. of 16 March 2011]
Pursuant to Art. 81(3) TFEU the proposed regulations, as “measures concerning family law with cross-border implications”, are subject to a special legislative procedure: the Council shall act unanimously, after consulting the European Parliament. The second subparagraph of Art. 81(3), however, provides a “passerelle-clause”, under which “the Council, on a proposal from the Commission, may adopt a decision determining those aspects of family law with cross-border implications which may be the subject of acts adopted by the ordinary legislative procedure”. The third subparagraph of the provision grants to national Parliaments of the Member States a veto power, to be exercised within six months of the notification of the Commission’s proposal to enact the “passerelle”.
The first issue for 2011 of the Cuadernos de Derecho Transnacional, the Spanish journal published twice a year by the Área de Derecho Internacional Privado of Univ. Carlos III of Madrid under the editorship of Alfonso Luis Calvo-Caravaca (Univ. Carlos III) and Javier Carrascosa-González (Univ. of Murcia), has been recently published. It contains twenty articles, shorter articles and casenotes, encompassing a wide range of topics in conflict of laws, conflict of jurisdictions and uniform law, all freely available for download from the journal’s website.
Here’s the table of contents (each contribution is accompanied by an abstract in English):
Estudios
Varia
See also our previous posts on past issues of the CDT (1/2009, 2/2009 and 2/2010). The journal’s website provides a very useful search function, by which contents can be browsed by issue of publication, author, title, keywords, abstract and fulltext.
(Many thanks to Federico Garau, Conflictus Legum blog, for the tip-off)
The Italian publishing house Giuffrè has recently published a new book in the law dictionary series Dizionari del diritto privato, directed by Prof. Natalino Irti. The volume, Diritto internazionale privato, edited by Prof. Roberto Baratta, is entirely devoted to Private International Law.
It contains more than 60 entries relating to conflict of laws and jurisdictions, authored by prominent Italian PIL scholars. A detailed TOC is available here.
Title: Diritto internazionale privato, edited by Roberto Baratta, Giuffrè (series: Dizionari del Diritto privato), Milano, 2010, VI-566 pages.
ISBN: 978-88-14-15911-4. Price: EUR 65. Available at Giuffrè.
(Many thanks to Fabrizio Marongiu Buonaiuti, Univ. of Rome “La Sapienza”, for the tip-off)
The Rome III regulation (see our most recent post here, with links to the previous ones) has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union n. L 343 of 29 December 2010. The official reference is the following: Council Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010 of 20 December 2010 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the law applicable to divorce and legal separation (OJ n. L 343, p. 10 ff.).
Pursuant to its Art. 21(2), the regulation should apply from 21 June 2012 in the 14 Member States which currently participate in the enhanced cooperation (Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Austria, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia).
Art. 18 (Transitional provisions) provides that “[the] regulation shall apply only to legal proceedings instituted and to agreements of the kind referred to in Article 5 [choice of the applicable law by the spouses] concluded as from 21 June 2012”. The same article stipulates that “effect shall also be given to an agreement on the choice of the applicable law concluded before 21 June 2012, provided that it complies with Articles 6 and 7” (rules governing material and formal validity of the agreement). As regards proceedings commenced in the court of a participating Member State before 21 June 2012, the regulation will be without prejudice to pacta de lege utenda concluded in accordance with the law of that State (Art. 18(2)).
In order to make national rules concerning formal and procedural requirements of an optio legis fully accessible, Art. 17 (applicable from 21 June 2011) requires the participating Member States to communicate any relevant information in respect thereof to the Commission, which will make them publicly available, in particular through the website of the European Judicial Network in civil and commercial matters.
(Many thanks to Federico Garau – Conflictus Legum blog – for the tip-off)
The JHA Council, in its meeting held on 3 December 2010 in Brussels, agreed on the text (doc. n. 17045/10) of the Rome III regulation implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the law applicable to divorce and legal separation (see our previous post here).
As stated in the Council’s press release (doc. n. 17151/10),
The new rules will apply to all participating member states as of mid-2012. Other EU member states which are not yet ready but wish to join this pioneer group at a later stage will be able to do so. The agreement also constitutes the implementation of the first enhanced cooperation in the history of the EU.
For its adoption two more procedural steps are necessary: The European Parliament is expected to adopt an opinion on the file in its December plenary session. The Council will then adopt the new rules without discussion, most likely at the Environment Council on 20 December 2010.
Upon the adoption, the regulation will be accompanied by declarations by the Council (on forum necessitatis), and by the Commission, Malta and Finland on a new controversial art. 7a (“Differences in national law”): see Annexes I, II, III and IV to doc. n. 17046/10.
The position of the European Parliament, under examination in the JURI Committee, can be found in the Draft report prepared by rapporteur Tadeusz Zwiefka (see, in particular, the Explanatory Statement) and additional amendments.
As we pointed out in a previous post, a very rich collection of essays in honor of Prof. Kurt Siehr on his 75th birthday has been recently published by Eleven International Publishing and Schulthess, under the editorship of Katharina Boele-Woelki, Talia Einhorn, Daniel Girsberger and Symeon Symeonides: Convergence and Divergence in Private International Law – Liber Amicorum Kurt Siehr. A previous Festschrift was dedicated to Prof. Siehr in 2000: “Private Law in the International Arena – From National Conflict Rules Towards Harmonization and Unification: Liber amicorum Kurt Siehr” (see Google Books).
Here’s the table of contents:
Part I: General Aspects of PIL Law-Making.
The second issue for 2010 of the Cuadernos de Derecho Transnacional, the Spanish journal published twice a year by the Área de Derecho Internacional Privado of Univ. Carlos III of Madrid under the editorship of Alfonso Luis Calvo-Caravaca (Univ. Carlos III) and Javier Carrascosa-González (Univ. of Murcia), has been recently published. It contains twenty articles, shorter articles and casenotes, encompassing a wide range of topics in conflict of laws, conflict of jurisdictions and uniform law, all freely available for download from the journal’s website.
Here’s the table of contents (each contribution is accompanied by an abstract in English):
Estudios
Varia
See also our previous posts on issues 1/2009 and 2/2009 of the CDT. The journal’s website provides a very useful search function, by which contents can be browsed by issue of publication, author, title, keywords, abstract and fulltext.
(Many thanks to Pietro Franzina, University of Ferrara, for the tip-off)
Following our previous post on the presentation by the Commission of the Proposal for a regulation on succession and wills (COM(2009) 154 fin. of 14 October 2009), the text of the Proposal has been made available on the PreLex website, where the codecision procedure has been filed under no. 2009/0157/COD. Only the English, French and German versions are currently accessible.
The proposal is accompanied by two Commission Staff working documents (in English):
Direct linking to these supplements does not currently work: to download them, use the search form at the bottom of this page.