Conflictoflaws

Written by William S. Dodge (Professor, University of California, Davis, School of Law)

Should courts in the United States refuse to recognize and enforcement Chinese court judgments on the ground that China does not provide impartial tribunals or procedures compatible with the requirements of due process of law? Last April, a New York trial court said yes in Shanghai Yongrun Investment Management Co. v. Kashi Galaxy Venture Capital Co., relying on State Department Country Reports as conclusive evidence that Chinese courts lacked judicial independence and suffered from corruption. As Professor Wenliang Zhang and I pointed out on this blog, the implications of this decision were broad. Under the trial court’s reasoning, no Chinese judgment would ever be entitled to recognition in New York or any of the other U.S. states that have adopted Uniform Acts governing foreign judgments. Moreover, U.S. judgments would become unenforceable in China because China enforces foreign judgments based on reciprocity. But on March 10, just three weeks after oral argument, New York’s Appellate Division answered that question no, reversing the trial court’s decision.

As background, it is important to note that the recognition and enforcement of foreign country judgments in the United States is generally governed by state law. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have enacted the 2005 Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act. In nine additional states, its predecessor, the 1962 Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act, remains in effect. At the time of the trial court’s decision, the 1962 Uniform Act governed in New York, but it was superseded by the 2005 Uniform Act on June 11, 2021. Both Uniform Acts provide for the nonrecognition of a foreign judgment if “the judgment was rendered under a judicial system that does not provide impartial tribunals or procedures compatible with the requirements of due process of law.”

This systemic lack of due process ground for nonrecognition comes from the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1895 decision in Hilton v. Guyot, issued at a time when lawyers routinely distinguished between civilized and uncivilized nations. It was incorporated in the 1962 Uniform Act at the height of the Cold War, and included in the 2005 Uniform Act without discussion, apparently to maintain continuity with the 1962 Act. Despite its codification for nearly sixty years, fewer than five cases have refused recognition on this ground. The leading case is Bridgeway Corp. v. Citibank, involving a Liberian judgment issued during its civil war, when the judicial system had almost completely broken down.

Shanghai Yongrun involved a business dispute between two Chinese parties, which was submitted to a court in Beijing under a choice-of-forum clause in the parties’ agreement. The defendant was represented by counsel, presented its case, and appealed unsuccessfully. Nevertheless, the New York trial court held that the Chinese judgment was not enforceable because China lacks impartial tribunals and procedures compatible with due process. The court relied “conclusively” on China Country Reports prepared by the State Department identifying problems with judicial independence and corruption in China.

In a brief order, the Appellate Division reversed. It concluded that the trial court should not have dismissed the action based on the Country Reports. These Reports did not constitute “documentary evidence” under New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules. But more fundamentally, reliance on the Country Reports was inappropriate because they “primarily discuss the lack of judicial independence in proceedings involving politically sensitive matters” and “do not utterly refute plaintiff’s allegation that the civil law system governing this breach of contract business dispute was fair.”

On this, the Appellate Division was clearly correct. The State Department prepares Country Reports to administer provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act denying assistance to countries that consistently engage in gross violations of human rights, not to evaluate judicial systems for other purposes. See 22 U.S.C. §§ 2151n & 2304. The Reports themselves warn that they “they do not state or reach legal conclusions with respect to domestic or international law.” Moreover, if these Reports were used to determine the enforceability of foreign judgments, China would not be the only country affected. An amicus brief that I wrote and fourteen other professors of transnational litigation joined noted that State Department Country Reports expressed similar concerns about judicial independence, corruption, or both with respect to 141 other countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and Spain.

The Appellate Division concluded that “[t]he allegations that defendants had an opportunity to be heard, were represented by counsel, and had a right to appeal in the underlying proceeding in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) sufficiently pleaded that the basic requisites of due process were met.” By focusing on the facts of the specific case, the Appellate Division appears to have taken a case-by-case, rather than a systemic, approach to due process. Such a case-by-case approach is expressly permitted under the 2005 Uniform Act, which adds as a new ground for nonrecognition that “the specific proceeding in the foreign court leading to the judgment was not compatible with the requirements of due process of law.” Such a case-specific approach avoids the overinclusiveness of denying recognition on systemic grounds when there are no defects in the judgment before the court.

The Appellate Division’s decision in Shanghai Youngrun continues the growing trend that Professor Zhang and I have noted of U.S. decisions recognizing and enforcing Chinese judgments. Just two months before this decision, in Yancheng Shanda Yuanfeng Equity Investment Partnership v. Wan, a U.S. district court in Illinois recognized and enforced a Chinese judgment in another business dispute. The court expressly rejected the New York trial court’s holding in Shanghai Yongrun, noting “the multiple federal cases … where American courts enforced Chinese court judgments and/or acknowledged the adequacy of due process in the Chinese judicial system.” One hopes that this trend will continue.

 

On Tuesday, April 5, 2022, the Hamburg Max Planck Institute will host its 21th monthly virtual workshop Current Research in Private International Law at 11:00-12:30 (CET). Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Erik Jayme (University of Heidelberg) will speak, in German, about the topic

 

International Art Law: Signs of Disintegration in Classical Private International Law

The presentation will be followed by open discussion. All are welcome. More information and sign-up here.

If you want to be invited to these events in the future, please write to veranstaltungen@mpipriv.de.

Deadline extended: Funding opportunities under the justice programme in the area of judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters (JUST-2022-JCOO).

The deadline for proposal submission to the call for proposals for action grants to promote judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters has been extended.

The new deadline for submission is the 30 March 2022 – 17:00:00 CET, Brussel’s time.

The total budget available for the call is EUR 5.500.000. The co-financing rate is 90%.

The key priorities for 2022 under this call are to contribute to the effective and coherent application of the EU acquis relating to judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, thus strengthening mutual trust.

In particular, the call aims to

1. facilitate and support judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters
2. promote the rule of law, independence and impartiality of the judiciary, including by supporting the efforts to improve the effectiveness of national justice systems, and the effective enforcement of decisions

The call-related documents, guidance and other instructions are available in the call page within the funding & tender opportunities portal (F&T).

Project activities under this call would in principle include:

1. facilitating cooperation between competent authorities and agencies, legal practitioners and/or service providers (including multi-disciplinary networks at international, national, regional or local levels);
2. mutual learning, identifying and exchange of best practices, development of working methods which may be transferable to other participating countries;
3. analytical activities, including data collection, surveys, research, etc.;
4. exchange and provision of information and development of information tools;
5. capacity building for professionals;
6. dissemination and awareness raising activities;
7. training activities can also be funded under this call, as long as they are of ancillary nature and not the main purpose of the project.

Any further request for information can be addressed to  EC-JUSTICE-CALLS@ec.europa.eu

Kadir Has University Climate Change and Law Laboratory (CCLLAB), continues its series of events on legal aspects of Climate Change. At the sixth session of Climate Change and Law Seminars, Kadir Has University Climate Change and Law Laboratory (CCLLAB) will be honored by the lecture of Prof. Dr. Sam Fankhauser on Trends in Climate Legislation. Event is open to public via Zoom. No formal registration required; we would appreciate however if you confirm your participation by sending an e-mail to ccllab@khas.edu.tr. To find out more about our lab, please visit https://ccllab.khas.edu.tr/

Sam Fankhauser is Professor of Climate Economics and Policy at the University of Oxford, where he is affiliated with the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment and the School of Geography and the Environment. He is also Research Director of Oxford Net Zero. Before moving to Oxford, Sam was Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, where he remains a Visiting Professor. He has also worked at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank and the Global Environment Facility.

You are kindly invited to the online conference on “Cross-border portability of refugees’ personal and family status – a plea for better interplay between private international law and migration law” by Prof. Dr. Jinske Verhellen on March 16, 2022, Wednesday between 12.30-13.30 (GMT+3). The conference is organized by Bilkent University as a part of the Talks on Migration Series within the Jean Monnet Module on European and International Migration Law. It will be held via zoom, free of charge. Please contact us (Jmmigration@bilkent.edu.tr) for participation.

Biography:
Jinske Verhellen is a Professor of Private International Law and Head of the Institute for Private International Law at the Faculty of Law and Criminology of Ghent University (Belgium). She is a member of the Ghent University Interfaculty Research Group CESSMIR (Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees) and of the Ghent University Human Rights Research Network. She has published on various aspects of private international law, international family law, migration law, and nationality law.
Abstract:
The lecture will address several legal problems encountered by refugees with regard to their personal and family status acquired in one country and transferred to another country (such as the absence of documentary evidence, the issue of limping legal relationships). It will focus on the interactions between international refugee law (relating to the rights and obligations of States regarding the protection of refugees) and private international law (dealing with private relationships in a cross-border context). These two sets of rules still operate in very different and even separated universes. The following issues will be covered: specific private international law hurdles that refugees have to take, the concept of personal status (age, parental status, marital status) in international refugee law, and the role of private international law conventions in the international protection of refugees.

This Thursday AG Pikamäe delivered his Opinion in the case LKW Walter, C-7/21. The request for a preliminary ruling originates in the proceedings on a litigation malpractice action, between a company established under Austrian law and the lawyers established in that Member State, who represented the said company in the proceedings in which it acted as a defendant.

By this request, the referring court seeks the interpretation of the Brussels I bis Regulation, of the Service Regulation and of the Article 18(1) TFEU (interdiction of discrimination on the grounds of nationality).

 

Legal and factual context

In litigation malpractice actions, a court seized with such action has usually to establish the hypothetical outcome of the litigation within which the malpractice allegedly had place, assuming that it did not happen. Thus, these actions have the potential of giving rise to a so-called “litigation within litigation” scenario.

The particularity of the case LKW Walter, C-17/21, results from the specific object of action brought before the Austrian courts. Here, the alleged malpractice is supposed to result from the negligence that, according to the claimant, have occurred in the proceedings pending before Slovenian courts.

In fact, a decision on enforcement, in Slovenian, adopted in these proceedings, has been served, by post, to the Austrian company. Under Slovenian law, a reasoned objection against such decision on enforcement must be lodged within eight days.

However, the lawyers – now the defendant lawyers – failed to lodge the reasoned objection within the time limit provided for in Slovenian law. It happened within twelve days of service of the decision. Ultimately, the Austrian company settled in full the debt established by the decision on enforcement.

The Austrian company brought the action against its lawyers before the courts of that Member State. Here, the defendant lawyers argue, in particular, that the time limit set by the Slovenian legislator is not compatible with EU law.

Faced with that line of defence, the Austrian court decided to request a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice. As an outcome, by its preliminary questions, the referring court in the present case seeks the interpretation of EU law in order to benchmark against it the provisions of Slovenian law. That configuration may bring to mind the judgment of the Court in the case Werynski, C-283/09.

 

Preliminary questions

The referring court in the present case asks:

1) Are Articles 36 and 39 of [the Brussels I bis Regulation], read in conjunction with Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the principles of effectiveness and equivalence [principle of sincere cooperation under Article 4(3) TEU], to be interpreted as precluding a provision of a Member State [under which] an objection [against a decision of enforcement] must be lodged within eight days in the language of that Member State, even if the decision on enforcement is served in another Member State in a language which the addressee does not understand, and the objection is already rejected as being out of time if it is lodged within twelve days?

2) Is Article 8 of [the Service Regulation], read in conjunction with the principles of effectiveness and equivalence, to be interpreted as precluding a national measure which provides that, upon service of the standard form set out in Annex II informing the addressee of his or her right to refuse to accept the document within a period of one week, the period also begins to run in respect of bringing the appeal provided for against the decision on enforcement served at the same time, for which a period of eight days is laid down?

3) Is Article 18(1) TFEU to be interpreted as precluding a provision of a Member State which provides for, as the remedy against a decision on enforcement, an objection, which must be lodged within eight days, and that time limit also applies where the addressee of the decision on enforcement is established in another Member State and the decision on enforcement is not written either in the official language of the Member State in which the decision on enforcement is served or in a language which the addressee of the decision understands?

 

Assessment of the preliminary questions provided for in the Opinion

In his Opinion, AG Pikamäe proposes to the Court to address, in the first place, the second preliminary question on the interpretation of Article 8 of the Service Regulation.

In his view, Article 8(1) and (3) of the Service Regulation, read in conjunction with Article 47 of the Charter, does not preclude a provision of a Member Stater under which the time limit for lodging an objection against a decision embodied in a judicial document served in accordance with Service Regulation begins to run from the time of service of the document in question, and not only after the expiry of the one-week time limit provided for in Article 8(1) for refusing to accept the document (point 56).

As a reminder, Article 8(1) of the Regulation provides that it is possible to refuse to accept the document at the time of service or by returning the document to the receiving agency within one week if it is not written in, or accompanied by a translation into, a language which the addressee understands or the official language of the Member State addressed. The Austrian company, represented by the defendant lawyers, did not exercise such right of refusal after being served with the Slovenian decision on enforcement (see point 99).

 

 

Concerning the first preliminary question, AG debates the admissibility of the question. He considers that the Court should answer it: the question benefits from the presumption of its relevance and the referring court seeks the interpretation of EU law in order to pronounce itself on the line of defence put forward by the defendant lawyers (point 59). I can speculatively imagine that the defendant lawyers could argue that it was not necessary to satisfy the debt established by the decision on enforcement as it was not enforceable in Austria or, in the alternative, it was possible to contest its enforcement in that Member State (and, thus, in the extension of this logic, the Austrian company prematurely settled the debt and/or contributed to the damage it incurred).

In any case, according to AG, the second preliminary question calls for its reformulation. He considers that the referring court in actuality seeks the interpretation of Articles 45(1)(b) and 46 of the Brussels I bis Regulation (ground for refusal of enforcement, based on the improper service of the decision), read in conjunction with Article 47 of the Charter (point 62). In essence, he proposes to consider that these provisions call for a refusal of enforcement of the decision in circumstances such as those of the present case (point 93).

 

Finally, as to the third preliminary question, AG takes that view that Article 18(1) TFEU does not apply to a situation in which the addressee of a judicial document has waived his (her) right to refuse service of that document in accordance with Article 8(1) of the Service Regulation (point 101).

 

The Opinion can be consulted here (no English version yet).

Meeting of the Council on General Affairs and Policy

The Council on General Affairs and Policy of the HCCH met online from 28 February to 4 March 2022, with over 450 participants. Over the course of five days, HCCH Members reviewed progress made to date and agreed on the work programme for the year ahead in terms of normative, non-normative and governance work. More information is available here.

Several important developments relating to Membership and HCCH Conventions occurred during the meeting:

• El Salvador deposited its instrument of acceptance of the Statute, becoming the 91stMember of the HCCH.
• Ecuador signed the 2007 Child Support Convention and 2007 Maintenance Obligations Protocol and deposited its instrument of ratification of both instruments, which will enter into force on 1 July 2022.
• The United States of America signed the 2019 Judgments Convention, becoming its sixth signatory.

More information on these developments is available here.

 

Other developments

 

Conventions & Instruments

On 1 January 2022, the HCCH 1965 Service Convention entered into force for Georgia. It currently has 79 Contracting Parties. More information is available here.

On 18 February 2022, the Philippines signed the 2007 Child Support Convention. The Convention will enter into force for the Philippines further to the deposit of its instrument of ratification. More information is available here.

 

Meetings & Events

From 11 to 20 January 2022, the International Hague Network of Judges (IHNJ) met via videoconference, with the participation of judges from 35 States. Established in 1998, the IHNJ facilitates international cooperation and communication between judges on the cross-border protection of children. More information is available here.

On 28 January 2022, the HCCH participated in the panel discussion “Thailand and the HCCH Core Conventions: Connecting Possibility and Approach”, organised by the Ministry of Justice of Thailand.

From 7 to 9 February 2022, the International Transfer of Maintenance Funds Experts’ Group met via videoconference. The Group continued its work discussing good practices and identifying possible future improvements in relation to the cross-border transfer of child support payments, with a view to facilitating the most cost-effective, transparent, prompt, efficient and accessible cross-border transfer of funds. More information is available here.

From 14 to 18 February 2022, the second meeting of the Working Group on Matters Related to Jurisdiction in Transnational Civil or Commercial Litigation was held via videoconference. The Group made further progress on the development of draft provisions on parallel litigation in civil or commercial matters, which may occur when separate proceedings are instituted before the courts of different States. More information is available here.

 

Publications and Documentation

On 22 February 2022, the Permanent Bureau launched consultations on the draft Practical Handbook on the Operation of the 2000 Protection of Adults Convention. More information is available here.

On 28 February 2022, the Permanent Bureau announced the publication of the HCCH 2021 Annual Report. More information is available here.

 

Vacancies

Applications are now open for three- to six-month legal internships from July to December 2022. The deadline for the submission of applications is 17 March 2022 (18:00 CET). 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.

From March 15 to May 19, 2022, as part of the three-year European project called Jean Monnet Module on Multilevel, Multiparty and Multisector Cross-Border Litigation in Europe, will take place the 2nd edition of the cycle of online seminars on transnational civil and commercial litigation in Europe. Among the novelties of this edition, the participation of professionals from the European Court of Human Rights, the European Central Bank, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School, New York. The initiative has received the patronage of the Chamber of International Lawyers, the Italian National Council of Notaries, the European Union of Judicial Officers, the Transnational Dispute Management network and the DEuTraDiS Research Center.

Deadline for registration: March 15, 2022.

Here the registration form and the official flyer.

On 7 March 2022, the Conclusions & Decisions of the governing body of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), i.e. the Council on General Affairs and Policy (CGAP), were released. Click here for the English version and here for the French version.

For official information on the ceremony of signatures and ratifications of instruments, click here (HCCH news item). For our previous post on the signature of the USA of the 2019 Judgments Convention, click here.

Although a wide range of topics was discussed, I would like to focus on two: publications and future meetings.

1) Publications

This meeting was very fruitful in getting the necessary approval for HCCH publications. There were three publications approved, ranging from family law to access to justice for international tourists.

Family law

The Council adopted the following decision: “12. CGAP approved the Practitioners’ Tool: Cross-Border Recognition and Enforcement of Agreements Reached in the Course of Family Matters Involving Children, subject to editorial amendments, for publication.”

The Report of the Experts’ Group on Cross-Border Recognition and Enforcement of Agreements in Family Matters Involving Children (meetings of 14-15 September and 29-30 November 2021) is available here. The Chair of the Experts’ Group is Professor Paul Beaumont. The work of this Expert’s Group has ended.

The draft of the Practitioners’ Tool: Cross-Border Recognition and Enforcement of Agreements Reached in the Course of Family Matters Involving Children has been made available. For French, click here.

As some of you may be aware, this tool is an alternative to the drafting of a binding instrument in this area. In 2017, the Experts’ Group drafted the following Conclusion and Recommendation for the attention of the Council on General Affairs and Policy of March 2018:

“Therefore the Experts’ Group recommends to the Council to develop a new Hague Convention that would build on, and add value to, the 1980, 1996 and 2007 Hague Conventions, and be developed with a view to attracting as many States as possible.”

The reasoning of the Experts’ Group was the following:

While the existing Hague Family Conventions encourage the amicable resolution of disputes involving children, they do not contemplate the use of “package agreements” (i.e., family agreements related to custody, access, relocation and/or child support and which may include spousal support and other financial matters, such as property issues) and do not provide a simple, certain or efficient means for their enforcement. From the Group’s experience it is recognised that such agreements are increasingly frequently used. Very often the matters covered require the simultaneous application of more than one Hague Family Convention while some elements of those package agreements are not within the scope of any of the existing Hague Family Conventions. This creates difficulties for the enforcement of package agreements.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how people may view this), this initiative was not taken on board by Council in 2018. See here.

Apostille

The Council adopted the following decision: “31. CGAP approved the second edition of the Practical Handbook on the Operation of the Apostille Convention, subject to editorial amendments, for publication.” This draft is not yet publically available.

The first edition of the Apostille Handbook is available here.

Access to Justice for international tourists and visitors

The Council adopted the following decision: “3. CGAP approved the Practical Guide to Access to Justice for International Tourists and Visitors, subject to editorial amendments, for publication on the HCCH website.”

The draft of the Practical Guide to Access to Justice for International Tourists and Visitors is available here.

As with the recognition and enforcement of agreements reached in the course of family matters, the initial proposal was the developing of a new instrument.

At its meeting in 2013, the CGAP took note of the suggestion by Brazil to undertake work on co-operation in respect of protection of tourists and visitors abroad. See in particular Prel. Doc. No 3 of February 2018 – Final report concerning a possible future Convention on Co-operation and Access to Justice for International Tourists drafted by Professor Emmanuelle Guinchard.

2) Meetings

With regard to future meetings, there are a few meetings in the pipeline:

Special Commission meetings (SC) in 2022 (basically, a global meeting of experts):

• Special Commission on the practical  operation  of  the  2007 Child Support Convention and its Protocol  – to be held from 17 to 19 May (in-person meeting) – This will be the first meeting ever of the SC on this topic
• Special Commission on the practical  operation  of  the  1993  Adoption  Convention – to be held from 4 to 8 July (online meeting)
• Special Commission on the practical  operation  of  the  2000 Protecion of Adults  Convention – to be held from 9 to 11 November – Tnis will be the first meeting ever of the SC on this topic

And finally, the Working Group on matters related to jurisdiction in transnational civil or commercial litigation – to hold “two further meetings before the 2023 meeting of CGAP, with intersessional work as required”.

 

A research seminar on the topic “Hard Legal Problems and Comparative Legal Analysis: The case of parental child abduction in international and Islamic law” is organised by the Aberdeen Centre for Private International Law under the auspices of the Aberdeen Law School Research Seminar Series. The seminar will be delivered by Professor Anver Emon from the Faculty of Law of the University of Toronto, Canada, and will be held on Friday 11 March 2022, 5-6.30 p.m. (UK time), through MS Teams. For more information, click here.

A new series of webinars on the application of the EU Succession Regulation in the Member States will be organised in the framework of the ELI SiG Family and Succession Law. In five webinars of two hours each, representatives of the Member States will talk about their experiences within their respective legal systems.

The organizers state the objectives of the event series as follows (emphasis added):

 

“Join us for the webinar series on the ‘Application of the EU Succession Regulation in the Member States’! 

The five webinars organized within the Special Interest Group on Family and Succession Law of the European Law Institute will take place between March and June 2022 and shall shed light on the actual practice regarding cross border succession cases in the Member States. The reporters will open the webinars with short introductory statements and will then take part in a lively panel discussion on the application of the EU Succession Regulation in their respective jurisdictions. The results of these webinars will be presented as comparative reports at an online conference in September 2022.

 

Attendance is free of charge. A ZOOM link will be sent to those who register by sending an e-mail to  zivilrecht@uni-graz.at

 

For more information see the program (provided below)!

 

Gregor Christandl        Jens Kleinschmidt       Jan Peter Schmidt

Univeristät Graz                   Universität Trier          Max Planck Institute

 

 

 

PANEL 1 TUESDAY, 15 MARCH, 4-6 pm CET Belgium Patrick Wautelet, Université de Liège Estonia Karin Sein, University of Tartu France Stefan Stade, ArteJURIS Cabinet d’Avocats, Strasbourg Portugal Afonso Patrão, University of Coimbra PANEL 2 TUESDAY, 5 APRIL, 4-6 pm CET Bulgaria Boriana Musseva, University of Sofia Latvia Janis Grasis, Riga Stradins University Malta Paul George Pisani, Notary Public, Victoria The Netherlands Katja Zimmermann, University of Groningen Spain Guillermo Palao Moreno, University of Valencia PANEL 3 TUESDAY, 26 APRIL, 4-6 pm CET Czech Republic Magdalena Pfeiffer, Charles University, Prague Germany Lena Kunz, University of Heidelberg Lithuania Katažyna Bogdzevic, Mykolas Romeris University Poland Anna Wysocka-Bar, Jagiellonian University Romania Daniel Berlingher, Vasile Goldis Western University of Arad PANEL 4 TUESDAY, 31 MAY, 4-6 pm CET Austria Brigitta Lurger, University of Graz Croatia Mirela Župan, University of Osijek Hungary Csongor István Nagy, University of Szeged Slovakia Elena Judova, Matej Bel University Slovenia Jerca Kramberger Škerl, University of Ljubljana PANEL 5 TUESDAY, 21 JUNE, 4-6 pm CET Cyprus Achilles Emilianides, University of Nicosia Finland Tuulikki Mikkola, University of Turku Greece Haris P. Pamboukis, Giorgos Nikolaidis, University of Athens Italy Domenico Damascelli, University of Salento Sweden Michael Bogdan, University of Lund ”

Additional information may be obtained from the accompanying PDF Document.

 

 

 

 

EFFORTS (Towards more EFfective enFORcemenT of claimS in civil and commercial matters within the EU) is an EU-funded Project conducted by the University of Milan (coord.), the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law, the University of Heidelberg, the Free University of Brussels, the University of Zagreb, and the University of Vilnius.

The seventh EFFORTS Newsletter has just been released, giving access to up-to-date information about the Project, save-the-dates on forthcoming events, conferences and webinars, and news from the area of international and comparative civil procedural law.

In this framework, the EFFORTS International Exchange Seminar was organised and hosted online by the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg on February 25th, 2022: an account of the resulting engaged discussions between academics and practitioners in the field of cross-border enforcement of claims will be given in the Report on practices in a comparative and cross-border perspective, to be published soon on the Project website.

Regular updates are also available via the Project’s LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

Project JUST-JCOO-AG-2019-881802
With financial support from the Civil Justice Programme of the European Union

The Conference represents the final event of the JUDGTRUST Project, funded by the Justice Programme of the European Union. The objective of the Project is to identify best practices and to provide guidelines in the interpretation and application of Regulation 1215/2012 (BI-bis). The JUDGTRUST Project is coordinated by the T.M.C. Asser Instituut and carried out in partnership with the University of Hamburg, the University of Antwerp and the Internationaal Juridisch Instituut.

The Conference will host panels on, inter alia, the scope of application, relationship with other instruments, rules on jurisdiction, provisional measures, as well as enforcement and recognition of foreign judgments. Additionally, the key findings from the National Reports of the EU Member States will be presented. It aims to bring together academics, policy makers and legal practitioners. It will take place on 21 – 22 April 2022 at the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, The Hague.

Further information and a link for registration can be found @ T.M.C. Asser Instituut – Events.

Speakers:
Prof. Dr. Markus Tobias Kotzur, University of Hamburg
Dr. Vesna Lazic, Asser Institute, The Hague; Utrecht University
Prof. Dr. Burkhard Hess, Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law
Mr. David Althoff, International Legal Institute, The Hague
Prof. Dr. Louise Ellen Teitz, Roger Williams University School of Law, Bristol, Rhode Island
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hau, Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich
Prof. Dr. Antonio Leandro, University of Bari
Mr. Michiel de Rooij, Asser Institute, The Hague
Prof. Dr. Javier Carrascosa González, University of Murcia
Prof. Dr. Pietro Franzina, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan
Prof. Dr. Gilles Cuniberti, University of Luxembourg
Dr. Fieke van Overbeeke, International Legal Institute, The Hague
Dr. Mukarrum Ahmed, University of Lancaster
Prof. Dr. Jachin Van Doninck, Free University Brussels
Prof. Dr. Luis de Lima Pinheiro, University of Lisbon
Ms. Lisette Frohn, International Legal Institute, The Hague
Prof. Dr. Beatriz Añoveros Terradas, University of Barcelona
Dr. Pontian Okoli, University of Stirling
Prof. Dr. Francesca Clara Villata, University of Milan

Moderators:
Prof. Dr. Johan Meeusen, University of Antwerp
Prof. Dr. Marta Pertegás Sender, University of Antwerp
Dr. Fieke van Overbeeke, International Legal Institute, The Hague
Ms. Lisette Frohn, International Legal Institute, The Hague

Coordinator

JUDGTRUST is coordinated by Vesna Lazic, senior researcher in private international law at the Asser Institute. She is part of the ‘Public interest(s) inside/within international and European institutions and their practices’ research strand. She has published extensively on international trade law, international commercial arbitration, and European private international law.

The EAPIL asked us to share information about their Webinar “What Measures Should the EU Adopt to Enhance the Protection of Adults in Europe?” on 10 March from 17 to 19.00 Central European Time (GMT +1). You can register until 9 March.

This is in response to the European Commission’s public consultation on the need for improved EU cooperation in the field of the protection of adults, in conjunction with the Hague Convention of 2000.

Also of note is that the Hague Conference on Private International Law is in the process of drawing up a practical handbook and has launched its consultation with Member States on the the draft practical handbook.

 

 

The EAPIL Young Research Network is looking forward to welcoming the academic and research community to the beautiful city of Dubrovnik on 14 and 15 May 2022 for a closing conference on the EAPIL Young Research Network’s third research project with the title: Jurisdiction Over Non-EU Defendants – Should the Brussels Ia Regulation be Extended?

The research project aimed at facilitating a critical discussion of the possibility envisaged in Art. 79 Brussels Ibis Regulation of extending the personal scope of the jurisdictional rules contained in the Regulation.

The conference will include a presentation of the research project and its core results as well as discussions with the representatives of the European Commission, the Hague Conference on Private International Law and leading scholars. The Conference will be held at the Inter-University Centre located at the address Don Frana Buli?a 4, in close vicinity of the Dubrovnik historical centre.

There is no fee for attending the conference and we are providing limited assistance in booking the most appropriate accommodation (as explained in the application form).

Please direct all inquiries regarding the conference to youngresearch@eapil.org.

• Conference Program
• Application Form

Today, 2 March 2022, the United States of America (USA) signed the HCCH 2019 Judgments Convention. This made the world’s largest economy the sixth signatory state to the new legal instrument, following Uruguay, Costa Rica, Israel and, intricately, Ukraine and the Russian Federation. However, read in conjunction with the recent proposal of the European Commission, the U.S. signature demonstrates the (still) strong interest in a global legal framework for judicial cooperation in the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments.

Originally posted on the NGPIL website

The NGPIL previously announced a Prize of 300 British Pounds Sterling for the best paper on Nigerian conflict of laws for an undergraduate and/or postgraduate scholar studying in Nigeria, or any Nigerian lawyer five years call or below practicing and residing in Nigeria.

A call for paper commenced in September 2021 with submissions received from participants across various States in Nigeria, entries from undergraduates and postgraduates in law, and early years post-call practitioners.

Following the submission deadline on 10 January 2022, the NGPIL made an assessment that Mr Solomon Adegboyo, an LLM student at the University of Ibadan, emerged winner of the competition.  Mr Adegboyo’s winning entry is titled “Tort in the Conflict of Laws: A Comparative Analysis”. Mr Olawale Adeosun, an LLM student at the University of Lagos, emerged the first runner up. Miss Hope Olajumoke a Nigerian law graduate (1 year post call to the Bar, Ekiti State University) emerged the 2nd runner up.

The response to the call was very encouraging and it is hoped this will be the springboard to encouraging, nurturing, and strengthening the foundations of private international law in Nigeria from earlier stages of academia and practice. This initiative will also assist with targeting areas of improvement such as addressing the lack of materials and resources on conflict of laws in Nigeria.

Huge congratulations to the winner and thank you to our runners-up and other participants!

Yesterday (1 March 2022) the Institute of International Law approved a declaration on the aggression in Ukraine. The declaration is available by clicking the following links:

Declaration of the Institute of International Law on Aggression in Ukraine – 1 March 2022 (EN)-1

Déclaration de l’Institut de Droit international sur l’agression en Ukraine – 1 mars 2022 (FR)

The current developments in Ukraine and the measures and sanctions currently in place have undoubtedly an impact across all areas, including private international law. See for example the measures adopted by the European Union here.

I include an excerpt of the declaration below:

The Institute recalls that the ongoing military operations call ipso facto for the application of international humanitarian law, including the rules relating to occupation, as well as all the other rules applicable in times of armed conflict. It recalls also that persons responsible for international crimes as defined by international law may be prosecuted and sentenced in accordance with the law in force.

Faithful to its mission, the Institute remains convinced that, while international law alone cannot prevent the outbreak of violence, it must remain the compass by which States are guided, and it is more than ever determined to strengthen its work to promote “the progress of international law”. The Institute adds its voice to that of other actors in the international community, including the learned societies acting in defense of the rule of law, who call for an end to the war in Ukraine and the settlement in good faith of disputes between the States concerned through all appropriate means of peaceful settlement.

The Institute for Private International and Comparative Law of the University of Cologne (Professor Mansel) is looking to appoint one to two Research Assistant(s) (Wissenschaftliche/r Mitarbeiter/in) on fixed-term contracts for 2 years, with contract extension possible, based in Cologne. The successful candidate(s) can be appointed full time (39.83 hrs/week) or part-time (19.92 hrs/week), with the latter option allowing for the completion of a PhD thesis. A German State Exam in law with above-average marks is required. In addition, proficiency in the Dutch, Italian, Spanish, or French language is an advantage. The remuneration will be based on pay group 13 TV-L.

The University of Cologne promotes equal opportunities and diversity in its employment relationships. Women are expressly invited to apply and will be given preferential treatment in accordance with the LGG NRW. Applications from severely disabled persons are very welcome. They will be given preferential consideration if suitable for the position.

Interested candidates are invited to send their detailed application including the usual documents in a single .pdf file by 20 March 2022 to ipr-institut@uni-koeln.de, for the attention of Professor Mansel.

In Memoriam Prof. Konstantinos D. Kerameus (21.4.1937-26.12.2021)

Professor Kerameus started his academic career at the Law School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, in his home town, and completed his career at the University of Athens. He taught Civil Procedure, Comparative and International Procedural Law in Greek and other leading Universities abroad.

He was awarded Honorary Doctor of Laws by the Universities of Hamburg (1993), Paris II Pantheon-Assas (2000), Liege (2003) and Vienna (2003). He was the President of the International Academy of Comparative Law (1998-2006), Director of the Hellenic Institute of International and Foreign Law (1990-2007), member of the European Academy (since 1994), the International Union of Legal Science (since 1993) and the International Union of Procedural Law (since 1995)y. He represented Greece in the conference on the Lugano Convention, in the negotiations for the accession of Greece to the Brussels Convention, as well as in various committees for the harmonization of the law of contracts, torts and civil procedure in the EU.

His Report, co-authored with Dimitrios Evrigenis, on the accession of Greece in the Brussels Convention (OJ C-298/24-11-1986) has always been a leading guide in the field of European procedural law. The breadth of his interests also covered the work of the Hague Conference. In this context, he gave lectures on the topic of ‘Enforcement in the International Context’– Collected Courses of the Hague Academy of International Law (Volume 264), 1997.

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The 2019 Hague Convention on the Recognition of Foreign Judgments will make it possible for foreign, non-EU, decisions to be recognized under common terms in EU jurisdictions, and vice versa. The presentation of these developments is the main subject of the present issue (Focus).

The introduction (Praefatio) was conducted by the Greek Attorney General to the ECJ, Honorary President of the Council of State, Mr. Athanasios Rantos. The main topic of the issue was the subject of an online conference (3.12.2021), with the participation of experienced professionals on the topic in our country,and of leading foreign scientists, who participated in the works of the 2019 Hague Convention.

The general introduction was assigned to the Director of the Directorate-General for Justice of the European Commission, Dr. Andreas Stein, who participated in the works of the 2019 Convention as the head of the EU delegation.

The Chair of the meeting, Emeritus Professor of the Law School of Thessaloniki Ms. Anastasia Grammatikaki-Alexiou, who has repeatedly represented Greece in the works of the Plenary or Committees of the Hague Conference, and has taught at the  Hague Academy of International Law, outlined ‘[t]he great contribution of the Hague Conference in the field of private international law’.

Directly from the USA, the President of the American Association of Comparative Law, Professor of the Law School at Willamette University, Mr. Symeon Symeonides, who participated in the work of the 2019 Convention as the representative of the Republic of Cyprus, gave his valuable thoughts on the topic. Professor Symeonides presented the theme ‘The Hague Treaty for the Recognition of Foreign Decisions-The Lowest Common Denominator’, identifying the most interesting points of the Convention and highlighting critical aspects of its text.

Judge Dimitrios Titsias, Justice Counselor, Permanent Representation of Greece to the EU, explored ‘[t]he limits of EU’ s external jurisdiction over the Hague Conventions’. The rest of the panel analyzed the individual provisions of the Hague Conventions, which will be of considerable concern to our courts in the near future. Dr. Ioannis Revolidis, Lecturer of Media, Communications and Technology Law at the University of Malta, discussed the topic of the ‘Recognition and enforcement of international judgments after the revival of the Hague Convention’; Ms. Anastasia Kalantzi, Doctoral Candidate at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki analyzed the topic ‘Points of convergence and divergence of the Hague Convention of 2005 and Regulation 1215/2012 on issues of extension of jurisdiction’; Dr. Vassilios Sarigiannidis, Head of the competent authority at the Ministry of Justice, presented the issue of ‘The system of cooperation between Central Authorities in the framework of the implementation of the 1980 and 1996 Hague Conventions on the protection of children’.

Among the judgments presented in this issue, a special mention has to be made of the following: the ECJ decision of 18.5.2021, Asocia?ia ‘Forumul Judec?torilor din Rumania’, with a comment by the associate in the International Hellenic University Ms. Raf. Tsertsidou, on the relationship between the regulations on the organization of justice in Romania and the requirements of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary; the ECJ decision of 9.9.2021, Toplofikatsia Sofia, with a case comment by Judge Mr. Ant.Vathrakokilis; the ECJ decision of 3.9.2020, mBank S.A./PA, with a case comment by Judge Ms. St.-Ag. Kapaktsi.

Concerning national court decisions, it is worth mentioning the 2020 Supreme Court of Cyprus judgment (No 122/13, 143/13), with a case comment by Cypriot jurists Dr. N. Mouttotos, University of Bremen, and Dr. N. Kyriakides, University of Nicosia, regarding the effect of the Directive No 93/13 on consumer contracts in the reversal of the final judgment under national law; the judgment of the Greek Supreme Court No 820/2021, with a note by Dr. Ap. Anthimos and Solicitor (England/Wales) Dr. K. Voulgarakis, on the obstruction of the right to judicial protection by orders of courts of another Member State, which led to the submission of relevant preliminary question to the ECJ, as well as the decision of the Athens First Instance Court No 312/2019, with a case note by Dr. Ch. Meidanis, on the role of the jurisdiction of torts in case of the fall of a Greek warplane in a NATO exercise in Spain.

In the column of Scientific Topics, the volume hosts a study by Dr. G.-A. Georgiadis, on the 10-year anniversary of the 2007 Hague Protocol on the law applicable to maintenance obligations, while the L&F Praxis section presents the main problems of the EAPO, which raise many practical concerns, by Judge Mr. I. Valmantonis.