Dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre d’un instrument de reconnaissance mutuelle relatif à l’exécution des jugements en matière pénale (Décision-cadre 2008/909/JAI du 27 nov. 2008), la chambre criminelle affirme, d’une part, sa compétence pour placer le mis en examen sous contrôle judiciaire en présence d’une détention provisoire irrégulière, réserve faite du cas de la violation du principe de spécialité. Elle étend, d’autre part, l’applicabilité de ce principe au contrôle judiciaire et précise son application quant à l’autorité apte à y renoncer, à savoir l’État de condamnation.
Nouvelle année, nouvelle présidence tournante du Conseil de l’Union européenne par la Pologne qui succède à la Hongrie jusqu’en juillet prochain. Le programme polonais met un accent particulier sur la sécurité européenne, entendue très largement et couvrant différents secteurs qu’il s’agisse de la sécurité territoriale, énergétique, alimentaire, mais aussi économique, prenant acte de certains aspects mentionnés par Mario Draghi en septembre dernier.
Les deux derniers mois de l’année 2024 ont été marqués par l’absence d’arrêts ou de décisions de grande chambre, par une relative discrétion des affaires françaises et par des affaires venues d’ailleurs qui ont permis à la Cour de Strasbourg de renforcer sa détermination à participer à la lutte contre la traites des êtres humains, les violences domestiques ou le sort des personnes atteintes de troubles psychiatriques, ainsi que de confirmer son intérêt pour les droits des détenus ou sa prudence face aux questions migratoires.
Il n’est pas nouveau, en droit de la concurrence, qu’une entente puisse être réprimée, au titre de l’article 101 du Traité sur le fonctionnement de l’Union européenne, si les effets restrictifs de concurrence qu’elle produit sont seulement potentiels, dès lors qu’ils sont suffisamment sensibles. C’est ce que rappelle classiquement la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne dans une décision du 5 décembre 2024. Allant plus loin, elle établit explicitement un parallèle entre l’article 101 et l’article 102 du Traité sur le fonctionnement de l’Union européenne, qui prohibent les abus de position dominante, en énonçant que, en ce qui concerne la démonstration d’effets anticoncurrentiels, l’interprétation faite de l’article 101 correspond à celle de l’article 102, ce qui mérite d’être souligné.
This submission written by Celeste Hall, JD Candidate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and Global Legal Scholar.
The legal news has been awash lately in the recognition and enforcement of investment arbitration awards by U.S. courts. Most of the press is on the long-running and still-unfolding saga regarding Spain (see here and here). And a new decision recognizing an award against Zimbabwe was just issue at the end of December, as well. Here, however, we would like to add to the news with the recent decision recognizing an investment arbitration award against Mexico in United Mexican States v. Lion Mexico Consolidated.
Like most investment arbitrations, the decision tells a sordid tale. Lion Mexico Consolidated (LMC) is a Canadian company which provided financing to a Mexican businessman, Mr. Hector Cardenas Curiel, to develop real estate projects in Nayarit and Jalisco, Mexico. Cardenas’ company failed to pay on the loans, and LMC tried for years to obtain payment, all to no avail. Cardenas then began what was described as a “complex judicial fraud” to avoid payment, including a forgery and a subsequent lawsuit in a Jalisco court to cancel the loans. LMC was never informed of the suit and therefore, never appeared. The Jalisco Court issued a default judgment discharging the loans and ordering LMC to cancel the mortgages; Cardenas then arranged for an attorney to act fraudulently on LMC’s behalf to file and then purposefully abandon the appeal. LMC only learned of the entire scheme when they attempted to file their own constitutional challenge and were rejected. The Mexican Courts refused to allow LMC to submit evidence of the forgeries, so LMC brought a NAFTA Chapter 11 arbitration against Mexico for its failure to accord Lion’s investments protection under Article 1105(1) of NAFTA.
In the arbitration, Mexico argued that Article 1105(1)(b) only applies to investments, and because LMC is an investor, it could not seek relief under Article 1105(1). The arbitral tribunal disagreed and awarded LMC over US$ 47 million in damages. In the U.S. courts, Mexico petitioned to vacate the Award, and LMC cross-petitioned to affirm it.
Mexico conceded that the DC Circuit’s power to vacate an arbitral award is limited: as long as the tribunal “interpreted” 1105(1) the Court must confirm the award even if serious interpretive error was committed. Mexico attempted to skirt this issue by claiming that the Tribunal did not “interpret” anything. Instead, in Mexico’s view, they simply ignored the literal meaning of investments of investors by granting relief to Lion.
The Court was not impressed by this argument. It held that “[t]he Tribunal addressed Mexico’s interpretation of Article 1105(1) head on, employed common interpretative tools to reach a different conclusion, cited authorities in support of its reading, and explained its reasoning. By any definition of the word, the Tribunal interpreted Article 1105(1). Because the Court can’t second-guess that interpretation, the Court DENIED Mexico’s Petition to Vacate the Arbitral Award, and GRANTED LMC’s Cross- Petition for Confirmation, Recognition, and Enforcement of the Arbitral Award.”
Additionally, the Court denied a motion to intervene filed Hector Cardenas Curiel. Cardenas knew that the arbitral case hinged upon his fraud but did not pursue intervention at the arbitral stage. The Court found that Cardenas’ attempt to intervene at this stage was “too little too late”, and Cardenas did not meet the requirements for intervention under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2) or 24(b).
This decision is important because it follows a long line of cases giving deference to arbitrators in investment treaty cases; when they interpret the governing treaty and decide cases thereunder, their decisions will not be second-guessed by U.S. courts later.
As posted earlier here, the conference organizers and editors of the JPIL are welcoming submissions for the 20th Anniversary Conference of the Journal of Private International Law, to be held in London 11–13 September 2025.
Proposals including an abstract of up to 500 words can be send to JPrivIL25@ucl.ac.uk until 17 January 2025.
More information can also be found here.
An ERA online seminar on Migrants in European Family Law will take place on 6-7 February 2025. For more information, click here. The programme is available here.
As stated by the organisers:
“This online seminar addresses complex, practical legal issues at the interface between European family and migration law. It will address issues related to the portability of the personal status of migrants, in particular the recognition of marriage and divorce.
We will discuss the protection of migrant children in Europe, care and guardianship of unaccompanied minors, the frictions between family law and migration law in the case of child abduction and the structuring of return procedures.
The seminar will also present the recent case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on family and migration law, including the right to family reunification.”
Early bird registration ends on 13 January 2025.
The 26th Volume of the Japanese Yearbook of Private International Law (Kokusai Shiho Nenpo) published by the Private International Law Association of Japan (Kokusai Shiho Gakkai) (hereinafter “PILAJ”)has recently been released.
This new volume features the following table of content (all links direct to the papers’ English abstracts)
Part 1 – The Status and Development of Private International Law from a Global Perspective
Corporate Climate Liability in Private International Law (in English)
Marc-Philippe WELLER and Madeleine Petersen WEINER
The Case for a Special Conflicts Rule in the European Union for Cross-Border Trade Secret Disputes (in English)
Onur Can SAATCIOGLU
Trends in Australian Private International Law (in English)
Mary KEYES
Part II – International Transactions and Dispute Resolution through Arbitration and Mediation
The Application of Mandatory Rules of Law in International Arbitration (in Japanese)
Tatsuya NAKAMURA
Due Process and Efficiency in Arbitral Proceedings —From a Swiss Perspective (in Japanese)
Kazuaki NISHIOKA
Part III – Academic Conference Presentations
Yoshiaki NOMURA
Thu Thuy NGUYEN
Yoshihiro TAKATORI
Arrest of Ships and International Private Law (in Japanese)
Fumiko MASUDA
The contents of all volumes are available here.
Papers included in volumes 1 (1999) to 23 (2023) are freely available on the PILAJ’s website.
English abstracts of the papers published in Japanese are also available from volume 18 (2016).
The current and past volumes of JYPIL can be ordered from the publisher’s website (Shinzansha).
Une réglementation nationale peut prévoir que le juge saisi d’un recours contre une injonction européenne de payer est obligé de la déclarer nulle lorsqu’elle n’a pas été signifiée au défendeur ou l’a été en méconnaissance des articles 13 à 15 du règlement (CE) n° 1896/2006 du 12 décembre 2006.
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