Agrégateur de flux

Haris Meidanis’ new article on international mediation has just appeared at the current issue (2020/2) of the Journal of Private International Law under the title Enforcement of mediation settlement agreements in the EU and the need for reform.

In this article he discusses the current status of EU law on cross-border enforcement of Mediated Settlement Agreements (MSAs) focusing mainly on non-family law matters. Directive 2008/52 states the form an MSA may take under the national legislation, as the basis of cross-border enforcement. Given (a) the polyphony of national legislation as to the form an MSA may take for enforcement purposes and (b) the meaning of “judgment” under EU private international law and the Solo Kleinmotoren case, it is suggested that a level playing field as to cross-border enforcement of MSAs in the EU is not guaranteed. Further, it is suggested that MSAs constitute the outcome of a third distinct dispute resolution category, next to judgments and awards, and are also distinct to contracts. It is concluded that a reform of EU law seems necessary in order to mitigate the above lack of an equal level playing field and to take into account the special character of MSAs.

This is the third recent article on international mediation by the same writer, following the one published with Arbitration (the law review of CIArb) on Vol 85-Feb 2019, pp. 49-64, under the title International Enforcement of Mediated Settlement Agreements – Two and a half models, and the one published with ICC’s Dispute Resolution Bulletin (Issue 1, 2020, pp. 41-52) under the title International Mediation and Private International Law.

The CIArb article presents the various models regarding international enforcement of Mediated Settlement Agreements (namely the ones of the Singapore Convention of 2019 of the EU and of the New York Convention of 1958 (the “half model”) and makes the related comparison, while the ICC article presents the basic issues that may appear in an international mediation, from a PIL perspective.

Hessischer Rundfunk
Politique économique
Selon l’avocat général Pitruzzella, le droit de l’Union prévoit, en principe, une obligation d’accepter des espèces en euros pour le règlement des créances de sommes d’argent

The Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa (OHADA) has selected a team to prepare a draft Uniform Act of Private International Law. After a 10 month selection process, it has chosen a team led by the Paris office of Shearman & Sterling (see the announcement of the firm here).

The  mandate consists of drafting a Uniform Act on conflict of laws, conflicts of jurisdictions and the circulation of judicial and extrajudicial documents. The Act should contain an exhaustive set of PIL rules, which will be directly applicable in the 17 OHADA States and replace any local PIL rules currently applicable in those States. This would be the tenth Uniform Act adopted by OHADA.

OHADA was established in 1993 with the goal of harmonizing the business laws of its member States in order to foster economic development in the region. It comprises States mostly from francophone Central and Western Africa.

The team is composed of attorneys from the Paris office of the firm, but also several academics and practitioners from France and OHADA states (Cameroon and Ivory Coast, in particular).

One is hopeful that the team will want to identify the best solutions for Africa not only by considering the recent codifications of PIL drafted in French (Belgium Code of PIL, Swiss PIL Act, Quebec legislations, in particular), but also the PIL of other legal traditions, including those of neighbouring states such as Nigeria and Ghana.