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The programme of the Hague Academy of International Law Summer Course in Private International Law for the next year has been recently announced along with the invitation for applicants.

Inaugural lecture on Women’s Rights in a World in Transition: The Challenges of Private International Law will be delivered by Maarit Jänterä-Jareborg, Uppsala University, whereas the general course on Legally Fragmented World: A Private Law Perspective is entrusted to Francisco Garcimartín, Autonomous University of Madrid.

The special courses are:
Olivera Boskovic, Université Paris Cité, Tortious Liability in Contemporary Private International Law
Matthias Lehmann, University of Vienna, Crypto Economy and International Law
Pedro J. Martinez-Fraga, New York University – School of Law, Evidence-Gathering, Transparency, and Risk Assessment in International Commercial Arbitration
Anselmo Reyes, Singapore International Commercial Court, The Use of Domestic Law to Regulate the Conduct of Individuals, Corporations and Governments Extra-Territorially
Geneviève Saumier, McGill University, Specialised National Courts and International Business Disputes
Maja Stanivukovic, University of Novi Sad, Property Rights of Individuals After Changes of Territorial Sovereignty.

The directors of studies for the English-speaking section are: Philippa Webb, King’s College London, and Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm, University of Edinburgh. The directors of studies for the French-speaking session are: Lucie Delabie, Université de Picardie Jules Verne, and Malik Laazouzi, Université Paris 2 – Panthéon-Assas.

All wishing to apply for the course are requested to register online between 1 November 2022 and 31 January 2023. Importantly, scholarships are available for a limited number of successful applicants.

I am coming back to the topic of a recent post published on this blog, where I analyzed the trends emerging from seven years (2015-2022) of ECJ case law in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters.

I would like to thank the readers of this blog, who gave me feedback and ideas for new research directions. Building on these suggestions, I purport to write a series of related posts on specific aspects of EU Private International Law (EUPIL) cases brought before the Luxembourg Court.

The planned posts aim to promote a more comprehensive understanding of the ECJ’s rulings on EUPIL instruments, by bringing attention on the very first part of the judgment: despite being often overlooked by legal scholars, this can be quite interesting in its own way.

The present post, the first in the series, will focus on the origin of the EUPIL preliminary references brought before the ECJ (third red box in order of appearance).

The second post in the series will look into the role of States within the preliminary reference procedure and their respective level of “engagement” with EUPIL cases, as evidenced by the observations filed with the ECJ pursuant to Article 23 of its Statute (eighth red box in order of appearance; I am very grateful to Martin Margonski for the suggestion).

A third post will use the case law in EUPIL to highlight the internal transformation of a Court – the ECJ – that has seen its caseload increase by more than 450% since 1976, while succeeding in keeping the average length of proceedings more or less constant over the last two decades. Against this backdrop, the analysis of the case law in the field of EUPIL demonstrates the ECJ’s great adaptability to an ever-increasing demand for preliminary rulings and the efforts made for ensuring a more rational use of its own human and material resources.  This concerned, in particular, the use of judicial formations, AGs’ Opinions and hearings (first, seventh and ninth red boxes in order of appearance).

A. Methodology

All these research questions presuppose a “dynamic” analysis of the evolution of the ECJ’s case law in the field EUPIL over time. Because of this, it was no longer possible to exclude from the analysis the (substantial) case law developed under the 1968 Convention, at the risk of altering the statistical validity of the conclusions drawn from the collected data.

For this reason, these new blog posts are based on a larger database, and ‘EUPIL’ is now understood as encompassing also the 1968 Brussels Convention and the 1980 Rome Convention,  in addition to the instruments already included in the scope of the pre-existing analysis. As a reminder, these are Regulations 44/2001 and 1215/2012, the Lugano II Convention, Regulation 1347/2000, Regulation 2201/2003 (since no cases have yet been filed under the new Brussels II-ter Regulation); Regulation  4/2009; the Rome Regulations (593/2008, 864/2007 and 1259/2010); the Succession Regulation and the ‘smaller’ Regulations (EAPO, EPO, EEO, ESC, Service and Evidence I Regulations). The Regulations on matrimonial and registered partnership property issues have been taken into account, but there is currently no request for interpretation concerning them.

The time frame covered by the research is consequently no longer limited to the last seven years, taking into account the totality of the ECJ’s case law in EUPIL since 1976, when the first cases on the interpretation of the 1968 Brussels Convention were filed.

B. The Origin of Preliminary References in EUPIL Cases.

As announced above, this first post deals with the origin of requests for preliminary rulings on EUPIL instruments. “Origin” is understood in a twofold way: first, as geographic origin (1) and, second, as “procedural” origin, meaning by this the status and ranking of the domestic court making the referral (2).

1.  The Geographic Origin of Preliminary References in EUPIL.

Where are the requests for preliminary rulings in EUPIL coming from? Does this have an impact on the substance of the legal solution shaped by the ECJ?

The first question is relatively easy to answer. The referring court is identified in the very first lines of the judgment. When taken individually, this datum might not be overly significant. Conversely, a systematic compilation of the origin of all the preliminary references raised in the field of EUPIL could reveal interesting trends and national attitudes towards this area of EU law.

In my previous post, the analysis of the last seven years of case law  evidenced remarkable differences in the amount of preliminary rulings requested by each Member State. The new survey, based on a broader database, just confirms these conclusions. It also confirms Germany’s leading role as undisputed propeller of EUPIL case law before the ECJ.

Chart 1

The chart above shows the number of referrals under the Brussels-Lugano regime in shades of blue, the Rome regime in shades of green, the referrals in the field of family law in shades of red, successions in black and “smaller” procedural regulations in shades of yellow. Evidence and Service have their own distinctive colours.

It is apparent that there still exist considerable differences among the Member States. Nonetheless, in assessing Chart 1, due regard should be paid to the seniority of EU Membership: clearly, national courts belonging to the Member States who joined the EU at an earlier date had, over the last 46 years, more opportunities to refer cases, including EUPIL cases,  than those who joined in the 2004, 2007 or 2013 enlargements. I created the chart below in the attempt of obtaining a better picture of the “chronological evolution” of the Member States’ requests for preliminary rulings on EUPIL instruments (click here to enlarge the picture).

Chart 2

The colours used should give a more immediate understanding of the changing balances, over time, between “elder” and “younger” Member States: the shades of blue indicate founding Member States; the shades of pink those which joined in 1973; the shades of orange/yellow designate the Iberian enlargement; the shades of brown the 1995 accession; the shades of green the biggest expansion so far, occurred in 2004. Black and dark grey are used, respectively, for Romania and Bulgaria, which joined in 2007. Greece (1981) and Croatia (2013) have their own distinctive colours (violet and red).

It must be stressed that each country’s contribution is calculated not according to the number of cases referred to Luxembourg, but rather on the number of interpretations requested with respect to the EUPIL instruments mentioned above. For example, in case C-307/19, the referring Croatian court requested the interpretation of the Service Regulation, the Brussels Ibis Regulation, the Rome I and the Rome II Regulations. This case is therefore counted 4 times in the chart above (which explains the big red smear corresponding to 2015). Here, an amended version of the chart, showing the number of cases filed with the ECJ, regardless of the number of EUPIL instruments involved in each of them.

Seniority alone cannot explain the considerable differences in the amount of preliminary rulings referred by Member States of comparable size and seniority (eg. France and Germany), or between countries which are very dissimilar in both respects (eg. Italy and Austria). Spain is another good example of the relative unimportance of the seniority factor: a Member State since 1985, this country is a late bloomer when it comes to preliminary references in the field of EUPIL, the first Spanish referrals dating of 2014 (two cases on the Service Regulation).

It can be assumed that, in today’s cosmopolitan world, all Member States are exposed to international commerce and cross-border mobility of people, even if maybe not equally so. As a result, their domestic courts will naturally come in contact with (EU)PIL cases and might find themselves in the position of harboring a “reasonable doubt” on the interpretation of one of the instruments mentioned in Section A. Under those circumstances, said courts should (or shall, depending on their status) refer a preliminary question to the Court of Justice. Seen from this standpoint, the results presented in Charts 1 and 2 are particularly interesting, insofar as they trigger further questions as to (a) the effective impact, if any, of the geographic origin of the preliminary reference on the solution given by the ECJ to the legal questions submitted to its consideration; and (b) the underlying reasons for the greater activism of certain Member States’ courts.

(a) The (Ir)Relevance of the Geographical Origin of the Preliminary Reference

As for the first question, it could be very tempting to answer in the affirmative: the geographic origin of the preliminary reference might play a role. After all, the referring court belongs to a given legal system and, in the decision raising its interpretive doubts, it will logically present the problem from the standpoint of its national law. This circumstance could, hypothetically, introduce a national bias in the reasoning of the ECJ and influence the result of the preliminary reference procedure.

Nonetheless, there are, in my view, two arguments that vouch for the dismissal of such fears.

The first argument profits from the benefit of hindsight: a closer look at the ECJ’s case law reveals that it has always endeavoured to “detach” its interpretation of the legal concepts used by EUPIL instruments from the meaning they acquire under the national law(s) of the Member States, according to the well-known principle of autonomous interpretation. It can be added that, in the more complicated cases, the ECJ has the possibility of asking its Research Department for a comparative study on the meaning of a given legal concept in the Member States (these notes are sometimes published on the Court’s website). There is, therefore, a concrete effort to go beyond the specific circumstances of the case, including its geographic origin, with a view to shaping an interpretive solution that could easily be transposed and implemented in any Member State.

The second argument is based on a more pragmatic consideration: the fact that some national courts engage the Luxembourg Court more often than others does not limit, in any event, the (geographic) scope of the legal debate. The dialogue triggered by the preliminary reference procedure is never a one-to-one conversation between the ECJ and the referring court. To the contrary, all Member States (and even some non-Member States) can take part to the discussion by submitting written and oral observations pursuant to Article 23 of the ECJ’s Statute. As I have already announced, there will be a separate post on this topic and it makes no sense to go deeper into it now. It suffices to say that these observations can be a way, for each State, of introducing a “national perspective” on the desirable approach to the solution of a preliminary question, regardless of its contingent origin.

It shall also be added that Member States have made (and still make) extensive use of this instrument. Particularly telling are, in this respect, the very first cases addressed by the ECJ, the (in)famous Tessili and De Bloos, both decided in 1976. The judgments rendered therein testify of the firm resolution of the UK to submit its observations on those questions, despite not even being, at that time, a Party to the 1968 Convention. In the next post, it will also be shown that some national governments have been considerably active, over the years, in filing written and oral observations in the cases brought before the ECJ (by courts of other Member States), despite the relatively low direct engagement of their own national courts with the preliminary reference procedure.

(b) The Reasons Behind the Differential Engagement of Member States’ Courts with Luxembourg

As I mentioned above, courts in Member States should/shall refer a preliminary reference to the ECJ when they are faced with a reasonable doubt on the interpretation of a EUPIL instrument. It would be simply illogical and totally out of touch with reality to explain the result presented in Chart 1 as the consequence of a lack of self-assurance of German and Austrian courts.

The causes of the differential engagement of Member States’ courts with the preliminary reference procedure must be sought elsewhere, and are multi-factorial at best.

It is safe to assume that some non-legal, but rather socio-economic criteria will also play a role (for example, the attitudes and dispositions of the local population towards court litigation, which is a conditio sine qua non of the preliminary reference procedure). The comprehensive identification of these factors remains extremely difficult and is beyond the purpose of this blog post. Nonetheless, based on an open-ended, experimental approach to this research, I tried to compare the data on the geographic origin concerning the preliminary references on EUPIL instruments and those raised in “related” matters, such as judicial cooperation in criminal matters or public procurement, the latter being understood as the “public counterpart” of private law contracts. The ECJ’s case law in the field of public procurement is, in this respect, particularly revealing, insofar as it shows opposite trends as compared to the case of EUPIL, with a striking and overwhelming activism of Italian (administrative) courts and a very low rate of engagement of their German and Austrian counterparts.  It must be concluded that there are considerable variations in the geographic origin of preliminary references  across the different branches of EU law. This circumstance offers no further explanation to the results presented in Chart 1, but warns against too quick or too broad generalizations about the existence of national “attitudes” or “prejudices” towards the procedure under Article 267 TFEU.

Coming back to the field of EUPIL, a combined reading of the data concerning the geographic and the procedural origin of the preliminary references raised in this subject-matter might pave the way to some additional (and highly speculative) explanations of the results presented in Chart 1.

2. The Procedural Origin of Preliminary References in EUPIL.

Over the last 46 years, almost a half of the preliminary questions raised in relation to EUPIL instruments came from the Member States’ Supreme Courts, followed by first instance courts as a distant second.

Chart 3

There could be, in my view, two explanations of this result.

The first one is grounded in the Member States’ procedural laws: some of them may provide for the possibility of leapfrog appeals to the Supreme Court, with a view to conclusively settling procedural issues (such as international jurisdiction) at an early stage of the proceedings (see, for example, the mechanism set out by Article 41 of the Italian Code of Civil Procedure). While the existence of such procedural devices could in principle offer an explanation to the data portrayed in Chart 3, the persuasiveness of this hypothesis will finally depend on how frequent and available such mechanisms are at the national level, which is for a comprehensive study in comparative procedural law to determine.

A second explanation, which I personally find more convincing and of more general application, is based on the CILFIT criteria. Said otherwise, Supreme Courts tend to raise preliminary questions more frequently than lower courts simply because they are under the legal obligation to refer when faced with a reasonable doubt on the interpretation of a EUPIL instrument, unless this doubt can be solved with the application of the acte clair or éclairé doctrines. Conversely, lower courts retain the discretion, and not the obligation, of referring the case to Luxembourg when faced with a comparable doubt (unless they are acting as a court of last resort in a given matter).

In my opinion, this result could be combined with the data on the geographic origin in two ways.

(a) Divergent National Interpretations of the CILFIT Criteria

First, it must be remembered that the CILFIT criteria provide domestic courts with “general guidance”, that could be subject to different interpretations. A research note commissioned in 2019 to the Research Department of the ECJ confirms that the understandings and practical applications of those criteria vary considerably among Member States. It is also noteworthy that, while this research note was not requested with specific reference to the field of EUPIL, it mentions on several occasions its instruments when providing for concrete examples of the divergent applications of the acte clair or éclairé doctrines by national Supreme Courts.

In a 2001 case relating to jurisdiction over insurance contracts under the 1968 Brussels Convention, the Irish Supreme Court sought guidance in the Schlosser Report and concluded that “there [was not] any necessity for a reference to the Court of Justice of the EC pursuant to the 1971 Protocol to the Convention”. The Joint Chambers of the Italian Court of Cassation seem to consider, in a rather general statement, that the line separating the scope of application of the Brussels I and the Insolvency Regulations is an acte clair (despite the huge ECJ case law on this point), not subject to the obligation of a referral to Luxembourg (Order No. 10233 of  26 April 2017). Further examples of the acte clair and acte éclairé doctrines can be found in a Maltese and in two Latvian Supreme Court cases on the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (respectively, GIE Pari Mutuel Urbain (PMU) v Bell Med Ltd & Computer Aided Technologies Ltd, 224/2006/1 and judgments SKC-771/2018 (C30672916) and SKC-414/2017 (C30465614)) and in a Slovenian Supreme Court case on the temporal scope of application of the Brussels I Regulation ( Order III Ips 164/2008 of 3rd February 2009). In a Romanian EUPIL case, the domestic court refused the referral to Luxembourg owing to the expiration of the deadline set by national procedural law for the inter partes phase of the proceedings, marking the beginning of the deliberation phase in which no referrals to the ECJ should be allowed (decision 786/CM/2011 of the Curtea de Apel de Constanța).

There are, moreover, plenty of examples where domestic Supreme Courts have not referred a preliminary question under Regulation 2201/2003, based on diverse considerations relating to the inherent characteristics of the procedure before the ECJ. For example, the Lithuanian Supreme Court did not raise a question on an inconsistency in the Lithuanian text of Article 12 of Regulation 2201/2003. This Court feared, in particular, that a referral from its side would have prompted similar initiatives from other Member States’ courts and would have, finally, increased the workload of the ECJ to the detriment of the prompt decision of preliminary references in matters of family law (decision no e3K-3-426-969/2016). Both in Malta and in the UK, the seized courts expressed reasonable doubts as to the correct interpretation of a provision of the Brussels IIbis Regulation, but refused a referral to the ECJ fearing undesirable delays to the national procedure (case 35/16/1JVC, decided on 6 January 2018 (Malta) and case In the matter of N (Children) [2016] UKSC 15 (UK)). I just remark, in relation to the British case, that the average length of a PPU procedure before the ECJ is 80 calendar days (60, a couple of years back) and, within this time frame, the cases are decided with a hearing and an Opinion of the AG.

There is no need of entering into the merits of these national interpretations of the CILFIT criteria. It suffices to say that divergent national interpretations of the obligation to refer could provide for a (certainly partial) explanation of the uneven geographic distribution of preliminary references in EUPIL cases.

(b) The Practical Effects of the Application of the CILFIT Criteria and National Procedural Law

Second, the fact that the majority of EUPIL preliminary questions are referred by Supreme Courts can have important practical reverberations for the parties to these disputes. These parties might have to sit through three court instances before having a definite answer on issues, such as jurisdiction or applicable law, that should usually be defined in limine litis. This means lengthy litigation, especially in those Member States where the Supreme Court might not have the power to decide the case itself, in conformity with the ECJ’s ruling, having conversely to remit the case to the lower court(s). Lengthy litigation entails, in turn, high(er) costs, that might be an incentive to desist or to settle the case at an earlier stage, before a referral to Luxembourg becomes mandatory.

These remarks may open a new perspective on the interpretation of the data on the geographic origin of the preliminary references. The costs relating to access to justice and, more generally, to court litigation, the availability of funding, the existence of collective redress procedures in a given legal system might be among the (legal) factors behind the uneven distribution of EUPIL referrals among Member States, insofar as these features of domestic procedural law might increase the likelihood of bringing a case as far as the court of last resort.

3. Final Remarks on the Procedural and Geographic Origin of EUPIL Preliminary References.

It should finally be noted that, albeit general, the leading role of Supreme Courts does not equally characterize all Member States. In some of them, the trend is actually reversed, with first and second instance courts taking up the most prominent role.

Chart 4

Also noteworthy is the temporal dimension of the involvement of Supreme Courts. Data from Germany and Austria are consistent in showing a greater activism of first and second instance courts between 2008 and 2018.

Chart 5

Incidentally, this time frame corresponds to the point in time where the ECJ’s case law in the field of EUPIL starts to get more diversified. In fact, the first request for a preliminary ruling that does not concern the Brussels-Lugano regime dates of 2006 and concerns Regulation 2201/2003. Non-Brussels/Lugano cases have become recurrent in the following years.

Chart 6 below is a breakdown of Chart 3. It considers the procedural origin of the referrals raised in the different subject-matters (grouped by macro-areas) covered by EUPIL instruments.

Chart 6

This result needs little explanation: in family law (Regulation 2201/2003, Regulation 4/2009, Regulation 1259/2010), successions, applicable law (Regulations 864/2007 and 593/2008, as well as the Rome Convention)  and in the “smaller Regulations”, the role played by Supreme Courts is not as prominent as in the field jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in civil and commercial matters.

This might mean that lower courts could be more keen on using their discretionary power to refer when dealing with an sub-field of EUPIL lacking the support of a longstanding and well-established supranational case law, or, alternatively, when a fundamental interest of the person is at stake. Significant, in this last respect, is the fact that only 5 of the 17 PPU cases thus far decided by the ECJ in the domain of EUPIL were referred by a Supreme Court. These cases all dealt with parental responsibility, abduction and maintenance in situations involving a minor.

Dans un arrêt remarqué, la Cour européenne des droits de l’homme a constaté la responsabilité de la France pour des abus sexuels et des atteintes à la liberté religieuse d’une mineure placée dans une famille d’accueil. Cette affaire rappelle les implications de l’effet horizontal de la Convention, y compris en droit interne, et donne des indications sur les éléments à analyser pour établir la carence des autorités étatiques.

Sur la boutique Dalloz Droit des mineurs Voir la boutique Dalloz

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Advocate General Szpunar’s opinion on C-651/21 – М. Ya. M. (Renonciation à la succession d’un cohéritier) was  published last Thursday. The request, from the Sofiyski rayonen sad (Bulgaria) relates to Article 13 of Regulation 650/2012 on matters of succession.

In the case at hand, M. T. G., a Bulgarian national who died in Greece, designated as heirs her daughter, her husband – the Greek national H. H. –, and her grandson – the applicant M. Ya. M. The applicant requests that the court register the waiver of the succession by H. H. A record of the civil case of the Magistrate’s Court, Athens, Hellenic Republic, was submitted in the proceedings, stating that H.H. appeared before that court on 28 June 2019 and declared his waiver of the succession. According to the request, H.H. stated that the deceased last resided in the town of H., region of Attica, Greece.

The referring court considers there is a ‘conflict of jurisdictions’ (sic), since, under the general rules of the regulation, jurisdiction is determined by the habitual residence of the deceased and not by that of the heirs. Subject to certain conditions, the latter courts have jurisdiction to receive waivers and acceptances; however, (under the regulation) they are under no procedural obligation to notify the court having jurisdiction in principle of such waivers or acceptances. In light of it, the referring court is uncertain as to the nature of the proceedings before it. In addition, it submits that the applicant in the proceedings at hand does not wish to have his own waiver of the succession of the deceased registered, but that of one of the other heirs, and that Bulgarian law does not provide for such a procedure. The principle of personal protection of rights before a court does not permit the registration of declarations of other persons eihter.

The national court has referred the following questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union:

(1) Is Article 13 of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 […], read in conjunction with the principle of the protection of legal certainty, to be interpreted as precluding, after an heir has already had registered with a court of the State in which he or she is habitually resident his or her acceptance or waiver of the succession of a deceased person who was habitually resident in another State of the European Union at the time of his or her death, a request to have that waiver or acceptance subsequently registered in the latter State?

(2) If the answer to the first question is that such registration is permissible, is Article 13 of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 […], read in conjunction with the principles of the protection of legal certainty and the effective implementation of EU law, and the obligation of cooperation between States under Article 4(3) [TEU], to be interpreted as permitting a request for the registration of a waiver of the succession of a deceased person effected by an heir in the State in which he or she is habitually resident by another heir residing in the State in which the deceased was habitually resident at the time of his or her death, irrespective of the fact that the procedural law of the latter State does not provide for the possibility to have a waiver of a succession registered on behalf of another person?

The case has been assigned to a chamber of three judges (M. Ilešič, reporting, together with I. Jarukaitis and Z. Csehi).

The Hague Academy of International Law has made known the programme of the summer course of Private International Law of 2023.

The course will be opened by Maarit Jänterä-Jareborg (Uppsala University) with a lecture on Women’s Rights in a World in Transition: The Challenges of Private International Law.

The general course, titled Responses to a Legally Fragmented World: A Private Law Perspective, will be given by Francisco Garcimartín (Autonomous University of Madrid).

The special courses will be as follows: Olivera Boskovic (Université Paris Cité), Tortious Liability in Contemporary Private International Law; Matthias Lehmann (University of Vienna), Crypto Economy and International Law;  Pedro J. Martinez-Fraga (New York University – School of Law), Evidence-Gathering, Transparency, and Risk Assessment in International Commercial Arbitration; Anselmo Reyes (Singapore International Commercial Court), The Use of Domestic Law to Regulate the Conduct of Individuals, Corporations and Governments Extra-Territorially; Geneviève Saumier (McGill University), Specialised National Courts and International Business Disputes;  Maja Stanivuković (University of Novi Sad), Property Rights of Individuals After Changes of Territorial Sovereignty.

The directors of studies will be Philippa Webb (King’s College London) and Verónica Ruiz Abou-Nigm (University of Edinburgh) for the English-speaking section, Lucie Delabie (Université de Picardie Jules Verne) and Malik Laazouzi (Université Paris 2 – Panthéon-Assas) for the French-speaking session.

All applicants are required to register online. A limited amount of scholarships is available. Registration period for full fee, scholarship, doctoral scholarship and Directed Studies applicants is between 1 November 2022 and 31 January 2023. Attendees will also be able to participate in the doctoral networking sessions coordinated by Vaios Koutroulis (Univesité libre de Bruxelles) and Alexia Pato (University of Girona), additional afternoon lectures, embassy visits and other social activities.

More information on the Academy’s programmes, including the upcoming Winter Course, may be found here.

Advocate General Szpunar delivered today his opinion in Case C‑651/21 (М. Ya. M.), which is about the Succession Regulation and a declaration of waiver of succession made by an heir in the Member State of his habitual residence, with a subsequent registration of that declaration, at the request of another heir, with the court of another Member State.

Suggested decision: “1) Article 13 of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 […] does not preclude, after an heir has had registered with a court of the Member State in which he or she is habitually resident his or her acceptance or waiver of the succession of a deceased person who was habitually resident in another Member State at the time of death, another heir from subsequently requesting registration of that declaration in the latter Member State.

(2) Article 13 of Regulation No 650/2012 must be interpreted as not precluding a co-heir other than the person who made the declaration of waiver in the Member State of his or her habitual residence from informing the court dealing with the succession of the existence of that declaration”.

Source: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?mode=DOC&pageIndex=0&docid=268184&part=1&doclang=EN&text=&dir=&occ=first&cid=195575

The Jean Monnet Network – BRIDGE project, cofunded by EU Erasmus+ Programme, and the Latin American Center of European Studies invite the academic community to submit scientific papers to the V Workshop Jean Monnet Network on “Private International Law in relations between the European Union and Latin America”, which will be held in hybrid format on April, 19th 2023, hosted by the Universidad de Sevilla, Spain.

The selected articles will be invited to publish in the Latin American Journal of European Studies or in the Collection of the Workshop.  The top two articles will also receive an award of EUR 250 each.

Those who are interested must submit the article by March, 24th 2023 to the email: network@eurolatinstudies.com.

More information here.

PACCAR e.a.
Concurrence ENTR POSI
La production de « preuves pertinentes », au sens du droit de l’Union, recouvre les documents qu’une partie peut être amenée à créer par l'agrégation ou la classification d'informations, de connaissances ou de données en sa possession

Commission / Valencia Club de Fútbol
Aide d'État
Décision concernant une aide d’État octroyée par l’Espagne au Valencia CF annulée par le Tribunal : la Cour rejette le pourvoi de la Commission

As noted earlier on this blog, on 2 December 2022, from 4 pm to 5.30 pm (MET), EAPIL will hold a joint Seminar with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL). The Seminar will focus on the review of the Rome II Regulation and will, in this context, shed light on the Study that was prepared in 2021 by BIICL and Civic Consulting to support the preparation of the Commission report on the Regulation’s application. The seminar will focus on general issues as well as a selection of specific subjects.

The Seminar will take place via Zoom. If you wish to join, please register here by 30 November 2022 at noon. Registered participants will receive the details to join the Seminar on 1 December 2022.

The Seminar’s programme is as follows:

4.00 pm
Introduction: Overview of the Study
Constance Bonzé, BIICL (UK)
Eva Lein, BIICL (UK)/University of Lausanne (Switzerland)

— FOCUS I

4.15 pm
Financial Loss
Xandra Kramer, University of Rotterdam (Netherlands)

— FOCUS II

4.25 pm
Artificial Intelligence
Martin Ebers, University of Tartu (Estonia)

—

4.35 pm
A View from Practice
Marie Louise Kinsler, KC, 2 Temple Gardens, London (UK)

—

4.45 pm
Discussion

For more information, please write an e-mail to secretary.general@eapil.org.

The Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) delivered yesterday its judgment in case C‑873/19 (Deutsche Umwelthilfe eV v Bundesrepublik Deutschland, joined party: Volkswagen AG), which is about the Aarhus Convention and access to justice in environmental matters:

“1. Article 9(3) of the Convention on access to information, public participation in decision-making and access to justice in environmental matters, signed in Aarhus on 25 June 1998 and approved on behalf of the European Community by Council Decision 2005/370/EC of 17 February 2005, read in conjunction with Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as precluding a situation where an environmental association, authorised to bring legal proceedings in accordance with national law, is unable to challenge before a national court an administrative decision granting or amending EC type-approval which may be contrary to Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 715/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2007 on type approval of motor vehicles with respect to emissions from light passenger and commercial vehicles (Euro 5 and Euro 6) and on access to vehicle repair and maintenance information.

2. Article 5(2)(a) of Regulation No 715/2007 must be interpreted as meaning that a defeat device can be justified under that provision only where it is established that that device strictly meets the need to avoid immediate risks of damage or accident to the engine, caused by a malfunction of a component of the exhaust gas recirculation system, of such a serious nature as to give rise to a specific hazard when a vehicle fitted with that device is driven. Furthermore, the ‘need’ for a defeat device, within the meaning of that provision, exists only where, at the time of the EC type-approval of that device or of the vehicle equipped with it, no other technical solution makes it possible to avoid immediate risks of damage or accident to the engine, which give rise to a specific hazard when driving the vehicle”.

Source: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=268044&mode=req&pageIndex=1&dir=&occ=first&part=1&text=&doclang=EN&cid=280104

Le 31 octobre, la CEDH a accordé une mesure provisoire à un demandeur d’asile sans hébergement depuis son arrivée en Belgique. Si cette décision est inédite, elle pourrait être la première d’une longue série, la Cour précisant recevoir de manière continue des demandes similaires.

Sur la boutique Dalloz Code de l’entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d’asile 2023, annoté et commenté Voir la boutique Dalloz

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On 2 December 2022, from 4 pm to 5.30 pm (MET), the European Association of Private International Law (EAPIL) will hold a joint Seminar with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL). The Seminar will focus on the review of the Rome II Regulation and will, in this context, shed light on the Study that was prepared in 2021 by BIICL and Civic Consulting to support the preparation of the Commission report on the Regulation’s application. The seminar will focus on general issues as well as a selection of specific subjects.

 

Programme

4.00 pm: Introduction – Overview of the Study

       Constance Bonzé, BIICL (UK) and Eva Lein, BIICL (UK)/University of Lausanne (Switzerland)

4.15 pm: Focus I – Financial Loss

       Xandra Kramer, University of Rotterdam (Netherlands)

4.25 pm: Focus II – Artificial Intelligence

       Martin Ebers, University of Tartu (Estonia)

4.35 pm: A View from Practice

       Marie Louise Kinsler, KC, 2 Temple Gardens, London (UK)

4.45 pm: Discussion

 

Participation and Registration

The Seminar will take place via Zoom. Registration is possible via this link. Registered participants will receive all necessary information one day prior to the event (i.e. on 1 December 2022).

 

Background

The EAPIL (Virtual) Seminar Series wishes to contribute to the study and development of (European) Private International Law through English-language seminars on topical issues. It will provide an easily accessible and informal platform for the exchange of ideas – outside the bi-annual EAPIL conferences. At the same time, it will serve as a means for EAPIL members to connect with other EAPIL members and non-members.

 

About the Book

 Streamlining disputes has become imperative to reduce the judicial caseload. One may presume that resorting to arbitration or other forms of ADR when the parties wish to resolve their issues amicably might provide them with a speedier remedy. Considering that commercial disputes now are extensively complex and cumbersome, there arose a need for a more evolved dispute resolution mechanism that could cater to the needs of each contract or dispute in a customised manner. MTDR can aid in doing so. It entails successfully employing different kinds of ADR for the same dispute in case there is no resolution. However, MTDR comes with its fair share of issues, such as reservations amongst the parties, lack of rules governing such procedures, limitation period, lack of party cooperation and the non-binding nature of certain forms of ADR. These pertinent questions are merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Multi-Tiered Dispute Resolution. The objectives of Alternative Dispute Resolution are saving time and reducing costs. At the end of the day, it is imperative to answer whether Multi-Tier Dispute Resolution is viable in achieving these objectives or if it will manifold the complexities involved in the process. Yet if there is even a possibility of settling disputes or at least parts of the dispute amicably, this concept is worth a chance. Despite the United Nations’ endeavours to promote uniform interpretations of the arbitration law worldwide, several nations have taken varying stands on the enforceability of certain dispute resolution procedures, calling for a study of the varying standards in different jurisdictions. For any dispute resolution mechanism to be effective, the codified law and the jurisprudence of a particular state need to be conducive to enforcing the process adopted by the parties. Thus, in-depth analysis and critical review of this subject’s laws and judicial pronouncements have been demonstrated. This book aims to assist the reader in overcoming the issues that one might face with MTDR in a wide range of jurisdictions to make this process of dispute resolution useful, effective and fruitful. The book covers MTDR in different jurisdictions like the UK, USA, France, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Germany, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and India. The functionality of any reform, particularly one that seeks to provide a multi-faceted solution, predominantly lies in the academic enrichment of the same. Policy and academia can only strengthen public awareness of Multi-Tier Dispute Resolution.

 

The Book is available for purchase on the Bloomsbury website using this link.

About the Author

Anjali is an Assistant Professor at Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University. Anjali holds an LL.M. in International Commercial Arbitration Law from Stockholm University (SU); and B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) degree from Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat (India). She is also a qualified lawyer at the Bar Council of India. She has also been advising domestic and international clients regarding commercial and civil disputes. Anjali is also acting as a Dispute Resolver (Mediator/Arbitrator/Conciliator) for various ODR platforms. Anjali sits on the Editorial Board of Legal Maxim and the Review Board of Syin & Sern. 

 

Ferriera Valsabbia et Valsabbia Investimenti / Commission
Concurrence
Le Tribunal confirme les sanctions allant de 2,2 à 5,1 millions d’euros infligées par la Commission à quatre entreprises pour leur participation à une entente sur le marché italien des ronds à béton

Minority SafePack - one million signatures for diversity in Europe / Commission
Droit institutionnel
Le Tribunal confirme la communication de la Commission refusant d’entreprendre les actions demandées dans l’initiative citoyenne européenne « Minority SafePack - one million signatures for diversity in Europe »

The first meeting of the Special Commission to review the practical operation of the HCCH 2000 Protection of Adults Convention will be held today in The Hague and will last until 11 November 2022. This event is remarkable given that this is the first time that the practical operation of this Convention is assessed since its entry into force on 1 January 2009.

A few topics of the agenda are worthy of note. I would like to highlight two:

The first topic deals with the tools to assist with the implementation of the 2000 Convention and is broken down as follows:

• Improving accessibility to the existing model forms
• Direct judicial communications and a possible network of judges under the 2000 Protection of Adults Convention. See here.
• Finalisation and adoption of the Practical Handbook on the Operation of the 2000 Protection of Adults Convention
• Finalisation and adoption of the Implementation Checklist under the 2000 Protection of Adults Convention
• Finalisation and adoption of the 2000 Protection of Adults Convention Country Profile

The second topic and undoubtedly fascinating to any international lawyer – if only with regard to treaty law – is the agenda item: Possible amendments to the 2000 Convention. For more information, click here. This agenda item contains the following sub-items:

• Interest in deleting the terms “guardianship” and “curatorship” (Art. 3(c))
• Interest in adding a new conflict rule for “ex lege representation”
• Interest in adding a provision on “instructions given and wishes made by the adult e.g. advance directives”
• Interest in adding final clauses allowing Regional Economic Integration Organisation to join the 2000 Convention
• Possible mechanisms to amend the 2000 Convention

It is becoming a tradition for the EAPIL blog to announce the publication of the PAX Moot. It is now just around two weeks that the case has been published for the students who are keen to take part in a yearly moot competition on Private International Law.

This time the Pax Moot Round is dedicated to the memory of Peter Nygh, a leading international lawyer, former judge of the Family Court of Australia, co-rapporteur on The Hague ‘judgment project’, and representative for Australia in the negotiations of the Convention on the Protection of Children.

The Peter Nygh Round of the competition will require participants to deal with the complexities of Private International Law in a global setting: European, African and American incorporated companies, Panamanian-flag vessel, and health injuries to employees from Philippines. The factual situation in the case is set around a series of international transactions and situations related to the refueling of a vessel in the port of Antwerp. The this, the insolvency procedure of one of the subsidiary companies involved in the arrangement of the refueling further complicates the situation of the parties.

The students participating in the 2023 PAX Moot are required to address matters of jurisdiction, the relevance of the insolvency proceedings for the pending claims, the possibility of appointing an expert to investigate factual situations in another country, and determining the applicable law.

Student teams from all over the world will be able to register for the competition from 2 November 2022. This can be done via an online form available here.

The moot comprises a written and an oral round. More information about the competition and its timetable are available here.

Il faut commencer par signaler l’entrée en vigueur le 3 octobre 2022 d’un nouveau règlement de la Cour intégrant une nouvelle version de l’instruction pratique concernant les demandes de mesures provisoires édictée par le président conformément à l’article 32. Il précise essentiellement que les mesures provisoires formées au titre de l’article 39 du règlement ne sont pas traitées par la Cour si elles sont adressées par courrier électronique et qu’elles doivent être envoyées soit par « EHCR Rule 39 site », soit par télécopie ou par la poste en faisant alors figurer en gras sur la première page le mot « urgent » suivi du nom et des coordonnées de la personne à contacter ainsi que, dans les affaires d’extradition et d’expulsion, la date et l’heure prévues pour y procéder et le lieu de destination. S’agissant de l’activité jurisprudentielle proprement dite, la période septembre octobre 2022 a été marquée par d’importants arrêts de grandes chambres se rapportant aux difficultés de rapatriement en France des enfants de jeunes Françaises djihadistes et aux discriminations stéréotypées frappant les veufs ; par des arrêts et décisions peu enclins à stigmatiser les mesures mises en place par les États pour lutter contre la pandémie de covid-19 ; de nombreux arrêts accentuant la lutte contre les interventions médicales non consenties ; des solutions à fort impact environnemental ; des arrêts protecteurs des formes les plus outrancières de la liberté d’expression…

Sur la boutique Dalloz Code de procédure pénale 2023, annoté. Inclus le code pénitentiaire Voir la boutique Dalloz

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La Cour de justice se penche sur une affaire originale dans laquelle une société mère a garanti les obligations de sa filiale à l’égard de l’un de ses salariés, qui fut par la suite licencié.

Sur la boutique Dalloz Code du travail annoté, Édition limitée 2022-2023 Droit du travail 2023 Voir la boutique Dalloz

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