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On 14 October 2021 an online roundtable will take place devoted to the private international law issues relating to the recognition and enforcement of foreign (mostly US) punitive damages judgments in countries outside of Europe.

The event is organised by the Maastricht University at the initiative of Lotte Meurkens and Cedric Vanleenhove.

An often-heard obstacle [to the recognition of judgments awarding punitive damages] is the public policy-exception. In a number of European countries, for example Italy, Spain and Germany, the supreme courts have rendered decisions on this matter.

Following the decision of the Italian supreme court of 2017, a conference was organised in Milan by the Department of Italian and Supranational Public Law of the University of Milan in 2018. A program of this conference, in which the organizers of this M-EPLI roundtable took part, can be found here. During the conference, the private international law question has been addressed from the perspective of several European countries.

We have decided to broaden this question and look into countries outside of Europe because extensive research into such jurisdictions has not been done yet. In this M-EPLI roundtable we bring together a group of experts who will reflect on the current position of their country (and surrounding countries). The insights gained through this research could be useful for the ongoing debate on the future of punitive damages in Europe.

Speakers include Cedric Vanleenhove (Ghent University / University of Liège), Béligh Elbalti (Osaka University), Wenliang Zhang (Renmin University of China), María Guadalupe Martínez Alles (IE University), Vsevolod Chernyy (Lomonosov Moscow State University) and Lotte Meurkens (Maastricht University).

More information available here.

A short (and late – I am in mopping-up mood it seems) post on the AG’s Opinion in Case C‑124/20 Bank Melli Iran – in which he also cites my former colleague proximus Cédric Ryngaert. Hogan AG’s Opinion addresses the rock and the hard stone, or the devil and the deep blue sea dilemma facing corporations in the light of diverging export laws /sanctions law. May a German bank refuse to do business indeed end business with an Iranian bank, under pressure from US secondary export control laws?

More on the external relations aspects of the case is ia here and of course in the Opinion itself. My interest here lies in part of the Opinion: the AG’s view that an EU undertaking seeking to terminate an otherwise valid contract with an Iranian entity subject to the US sanctions must demonstrate to the  satisfaction of the national court that it did not do so by reason of its desire to comply with those sanctions. It must show other motives, such as ethical reservations about doing business with Iran. These reservations may be documented by a genuinely rolled-out CSR compliance program: (88)

‘In order, however, to establish that the reasons given in respect of any decision to terminate a contract on this ground were in fact sincere, the person referred to in Article 11 of the EU blocking statute in question − in the present case Telekom Deutschland – would need, in my view, to demonstrate that it is actively engaged in a coherent and systematic corporate social-responsibility policy (CSR) which requires them, inter alia, to refuse to deal with any company having links with the Iranian regime.’

CSR programs have been used as carrot ia in Trafigura and as stick ia in Vedanta. The view here is very much the carrot or if one likes, the shield function: CSR policies as a defensive weapon against the rock and hard stone dilemma. That is most interesting for the EU corporations concerned and likely to draw the attention of export sanctions practitioners (both in-house and out) to part of the corporation’s blurb which they may otherwise ignore. Yet it may put too much emphasis on fairly unregulated CSR policy drafting, and compliance issues.

Geert.

The Scientific Committee of the European Association of Private International Law has approved the establishment of a Working Group on a future European Regulation on International Property Law.

The aims of the Working Group will be to exchange information on current legislation and case law in the field of international property law, with a focus on (but not limited to) the EU Member States and to draw up proposals for law reform and codification of international property law both on the level of the EU and on national/international levels.

The Working Group is chaired by Eva-Maria Kieninger.

It is composed of the following members: Janeen Carruthers (University of Glasgow), Gilles Cuniberti (University of Luxemburg), Morten Fogt (University of Aarhus), Teemu Juutilainen (University of Turku), Eva-Maria Kieninger (University of Wuerzburg), Teun Struycken (University of Utrecht), Jonathan Schenk (University of Antwerpen), Afonso Patrão (University of Coimbra), and Juliana Rodríguez Rodrigo (Madrid)

The Working Group is still considering applications for membership, especially from Eastern European Member States.

The Working Group will include a limited number of Members. Other Members interested in following its progress may join the Consultative Committee of the Working Group.

The Working Group wil report and seek comments from the Consultative Committee at least once a year.

Members intersted in joining the Consultative Committee may contact its chair, Gilles Cuniberti (gilles.cuniberti@uni.lu).

The Working Group will hold its first meeting in Wuerzburg in November 2021.

Further information on the project can be found on the Working Group’s webpage and sought from its chair, Eva-Maria Kienienger (kieninger@jura.uni-wuerzburg.de).

En dépit des mesures prises par le gouvernement pour améliorer la qualité de l’air dans plusieurs zones de France, celles-ci demeurent insuffisantes. En conséquence, l’État doit payer l’astreinte de 10 M€ pour le premier semestre 2021.

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Complicités de crimes contre l'humanité

Complicités de crimes contre l'humanité

Complicités de crimes contre l'humanité

A most late flag on Nestlé & Cargill v John Doe at the US Supreme Court, back in June. I reported on the case here and if you follow Lucas’ thread on the case, there is further interesting and impromptu analysis. Readers of the blog may know I have published on the issue before – search tag ‘ATS’ should give you all cases referred to below.

This case reconfirms the mood viz the Alien Tort Statute,  a popular (if not the only!) vehicle for corporate social responsibility litigation: since Kiobel, the USSC has seriously reigned in the scope of application of the ATS. In Nestlé, it would seem to impose a further squeeze on the ATS jurisdictional gateway. In Apartheid and Jesner Bank, ‘aiding and abetting’ by the US corporate headquarters of culpable conduct by their subsidiaries abroad, seemed to be a burden of proof claimants had to meet in order for the action to be admissible under the ATS. In Nestlé the Court in its current composition (sub III of the majority Opinion) suggests that aiding and abetting in that interpretation risks becoming a court-introduced (hence in its view noli sequi) action in tort.

Sub II, the Court is not at all clear what the jurisdictional hurdle might be, except that it is a very high one: ‘Nearly all the conduct that [claimants] say aided and abetted forced labor—providing training, fertilizer, tools, and cash to overseas farms—occurred in Ivory Coast… allegations of general corporate activity—like decisionmaking—cannot alone establish domestic application of the ATS.’ (Interesting contrast here with the UKSC in ia Vedanta).

Not only could one debate whether this decision represents the intention of the ATS (which, even if one applies it in limited fashion, did historically mean to catch at least in part activities outside of the US). One also immediately sees the most unattractive consequence of this judgment: as long as the dirty work is left for foreign affiliates to carry out overseas, one escapes the reach of ATS. As Lucas points out, it is not clear what kind of headquarter engagement could still trigger a suit under the ATS.

There is little solace in the indication that the Court (both in majority opinion and minority concurrence) accepts that corporations are not as such immune from suit under the ATS (which links to the issues currently discussed in Nevsun Resources).

There will be more attempts to further refine the ATS scope. At the same time one imagines claimants will study in even greater detail than before, the possibility to bring the suit under more recent US federal laws with clear extraterritorial intent, such as in the field of corruption of export controls. As past (but now gone) ATS litigation shows, human rights and /or environmental suit need not necessarily label themselves as such.

Nomen non est omen. It is the end goal of human rights or environmental protection or, say, environmental justice which determines a suit’s character, no matter what prima facie subject matter the suit addresses. If one can advance these causes by suing under the by-laws of the World Philately Federation, say, one should have a good go at it.

Geert.

EU Private International Law, 3rd ed. 2021, Chapter 7.

For background to the case see https://t.co/EcFiv6EDgQ https://t.co/gXdWqrR0jB

— Geert Van Calster (@GAVClaw) June 17, 2021

The third issue of the Journal du droit international for 2021 has just been released. It contains two articles and several case notes relating to private international law issues.

In the first article, Guillaume Feld (Avocat, Paris bar) and Guillaume Sauvaget (Associé, PS Consulting) discusse the concept of “dispute boards” as ADR technique in an international context (Les “dispute boards”: originalité, évaluation et perspectives d’un mode alternatif de règlement des différends singulier). 

The English abstract reads:

Original alternative dispute resolution (ADR) technique, dispute boards (known in French as « comités de règlement des différends ») have been conceived in the construction industry in North America in the 1960s-1970s as an empirical answer to the infrastructure projects’ high propensity to disputes and their negative consequences for all involved parties. Initially designed as a permanent body comprising one or more knowledgeable neutrals set up at the project’s inception in order to assist the parties in avoiding and/or overcoming any disagreements and/or disputes which could arise under or in connection the underlying contract, the popularity of dispute boards has grown significantly over the past two decades well beyond the construction industry. Their dual preventive and curative functions as well as their undeniable efficacy explain to the uniqueness of dispute boards which sets them apart from other ADR techniques. While they are not without inconveniencies and risks, dispute boards offer to their users numerous advantages and opportunities which justify their adoption under major international projects in various industries. The purpose of this article is to present : the concept, genesis and development of dispute boards ; their originality, typology and operation ; their advantages and inconveniencies ; their risks and opportunities ; and their possible future.

In the second article, Charlotte Ankaoua (PhD, University of Versailles-St-Quentin-en-Yvelines) analyses the recent caselaw of the CJUE dealing with the ‘Actio Pauliana’ under Brussels I bis Regulation (L’assimilation de l’action paulienne à une action contractuelle selon la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne).

The English abstract reads:

Through two court rulings, the Court of Justice of the European Union rules that the Paulian action is a legal action of a contractual nature within the meaning of Article 7, §1, of the Brussels I bis Regulation, even though the parties are not bound by a freely accepted commitment. The latter thus enshrines the extension of contractual matters undertaken in recent years and which makes the « cause of action » the main criterion of this autonomous concept. While these rulings seem to clarify the Paulian action, a «chameleon » action, the article tends to show that, on the contrary, they can distort it, in particular by undermining the principle of the relative effect of contracts which characterises it.

A full table of contents can be downloaded here.

The Mexican Academy of Private International and Comparative Law (AMEDIP) is holding a webinar on 9 September 2021 at 5:00 pm (Mexico City time – CDT), 12:00 am (CEST time). The topic of the webinar is Rethinking Private International Law (a look through its sources and methods) and will be presented by Professors Luciana B. Scotti and Candela Villegas (in Spanish).

The details of the webinar are:

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83622646486?pwd=ZzZwbFJ2R1NLaHFxUGNNUnE0M2FHQT09

Meeting ID: 836 2264 6486

Password: BMAAMEDIP

Participation is free of charge.

This event will also be streamed live: https://www.facebook.com/AmedipMX

Par un arrêt du 8 juillet 2021, la Cour de cassation revient sur la question classique du déplacement d’un enfant, d’un État vers un autre, par l’un de ses parents malgré l’opposition de l’autre et l’existence d’un droit de garde commun.

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On 16 and 17 September 2021 an online course on European Union and Third Countries. Issues on jurisdiction and recognition of foreign judgments will take place as a part of the activities of the European Family Law Module funded by the EU ErasmusPlus programme led by Professor Elisabetta Bergamini of the University of Udine, Italy.

Excellent group of lecturers from different EU Member States will be discussing EU Regulations on jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement when those issues arise in situations connected with third States. The course will offer an overview of different aspects to this issue, having regard to EU rules both on civil and commercial matters and on family and succession matters. The course will be either in Italian or in English. The details of the programme are available in Flyer_E2106_EU_and_Third_Countries.

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required by 13 September here.