Agrégateur de flux

In 2015, the Council on General Affairs and Policy of the Hague Conference decided that an Experts’ Group should be convened to explore the feasibility of advancing work on the private international law issues surrounding the status of children, including issues arising from international surrogacy arrangements (for further information on the Parentage / Surrogacy project, see here).

The Experts’ Group on Parentage / Surrogacy met from 15 to 18 February 2016 (the full report is available here). The discussion, based on a background note drawn up by the Permanent Bureau, revealed significant diversity in national approaches to parentage and surrogacy.

The Group noted that “the absence of uniform private international law rules or approaches with respect to the establishment and contestation of parentage can lead to conflicting legal statuses across borders and can create significant problems for children and families”, including limping parental statuses, uncertain identity of the child, immigration problems, uncertain nationality or statelessness of the child, abandonment including the lack of maintenance. “Common solutions”, the Group observed, “are needed to address these problems”.

In particular, as regards the status quo, the Group noted the following.

(a) Most States do not have specific private international law rules regarding assisted reproductive technologies and surrogacy agreements.

(b) Regarding jurisdiction, issues mostly arise in the context of legal parentage being established by or arising from birth registration, voluntary acknowledgment of legal parentage or judicial proceedings. The experts reported, however, that jurisdiction issues tend to arise not as a stand-alone topic, but rather in connection with recognition.

(c) Regarding applicable law, there is a split between those States whose private international law rules point to the application of the lex fori and those whose private international law rules may also lead to the application of foreign law.

(d) Regarding recognition, the Group acknowledged the diversity of approaches of States with respect to the recognition of foreign public documents such as birth certificates or voluntary acknowledgements of parentage, and noted that there is more congruity of practice with respect to the recognition of foreign judicial decisions.

Based on the foregoing, the Group determined that “definitive conclusions could not be reached at the meeting as to the feasibility of a possible work product in this area and its type or scope” and expressed the view that “work should continue” and that, at this stage, “consideration of the feasibility should focus primarily on recognition”. The Group therefore recommended to Council, whose next meeting is scheduled to take place on 15 to 17 March 2016 (see here the draft agenda), that the Group’s mandate be continued.

Tribunal des affaires de sécurité sociale de la Moselle, section agricole, 27 janvier 2016

Cour d'appel d'Aix en Provence, 7e chambre correctionnelle, 18 février 2016

Sabrine Maya Bouyahia, La proximité en droit international privé de la famille, Harmattan, 2015, ISBN 9782343054643, pp. 618, Euro 51,30.

[Dal sito dell’editore] – Parmi les méthodes proposées pour trancher les litiges présentant un élément d’extranéité, figure celle reposant sur le principe de proximité. L’étude porte sur deux systèmes de droit international privé de la famille différents (droit français et droit tunisien) pour mettre en exergue d’une part l’adaptation de cette méthode aux spécificités de chaque ordre étatique et d’autre part son adéquation avec tous les différents systèmes de droit.

Ulteriori informazioni sono disponibili a questo indirizzo.

La Commission européenne a adressé le 10 février 2016, neuf avis motivés à sept États membres, dont la France, en raison de la non-transposition complète des directives constituant le socle commun du régime d’asile européen.

En carrousel matière:  Non Matières OASIS:  Néant

en lire plus

Référé - Provision - Responsabilité du fait des produits défectueux

Protection des droits de la personne - Production de preuve -
Atteinte disproportionnée au respect de la vie privée

Avocat - Secret professionnel - Etendue

L’Associazione Italiana per l’Arbitrato ha indetto la settima edizione del premio “Eugenio Minoli”, per le migliori tre tesi di laurea in materia di arbitrato commerciale internazionale discusse nel periodo compreso tra il 1° giugno 2014 e il 30 marzo 2016.

Il termine per la presentazione delle domande scade il 31 maggio 2016.

Maggiori informazioni sono disponibili a questo indirizzo.

Stroumpoulis e.a.
SOPO
Les marins grecs résidant en Grèce et engagés par une société ayant son siège statutaire dans un État tiers et son siège effectif en Grèce bénéficient de la protection du droit de l’Union en cas d’insolvabilité de la société

Garcia-Nieto e.a.
Sécurité sociale des travailleurs migrants
La Cour de justice confirme que certaines prestations sociales peuvent être refusées aux ressortissants d’autres États membres pendant les trois premiers mois de leur séjour

Par un arrêt du 21 janvier 2016, la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne juge la législation chypriote sur les droits à la retraite contraire au droit de l’Union parce qu’elle désavantage les travailleurs migrants par rapport à ceux qui n’exercent leur activité professionnelle qu’à Chypre.

En carrousel matière:  Non Matières OASIS:  Néant

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Lors de leur réunion des 18 et 19 février 2016, le Conseil européen est parvenu à un accord sur un nouvel arrangement pour le Royaume-Uni dans l’Union européenne. Place dorénavant au référendum organisé en juin 2016 pour connaître l’issue de cette situation inédite.

En carrousel matière:  Oui Matières OASIS:  Néant

en lire plus

Divorce - Mesures provisoires ordonnées par le juge conciliateur ;
Régimes matrimoniaux - Détermination compétence juge conciliateur

Santé publique - Soins sans consentement - Notion de péril imminent

État - Responsabilité -
Fonctionnement défectueux du service de la justice

Shoe Branding Europe / adidas
Propriété intellectuelle et industrielle
adidas peut s’opposer à l’enregistrement, comme marque communautaire, de bandes parallèles apposées sur la face latérale des chaussures de sport

Coca-Cola / OHMI (Forme d'une bouteille à contours sans cannelures)
Propriété intellectuelle et industrielle
Le Tribunal rejette le recours de Coca-Cola qui souhaitait faire enregistrer comme marque communautaire une bouteille à contours sans cannelures

Marjolaine Jakob, the author of this post, is a researcher at the University of Zurich, Faculty of Law.

In October 2015, the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police (Eidgenössisches Justiz- und Polizeidepartement) published a preliminary draft for the reform of the 11th title of the Swiss Private International Law Act (SPILA) on insolvency proceedings and compensation proceedings (Articles 166–175 rev-SPILA) along with an explanatory report. Simultaneously, the consultation procedure (Vernehmlassungsverfahren) was opened, which ended on February 5, 2016. The preliminary draft and the explanatory report are available here.

Summary of the content of the preliminary draft

The preliminary draft aims at improving the existing rules against the background of recent national and international developments in cross-border insolvency law. A complete revision is not intended. The new rules are supposed to facilitate the procedure and the requirements for the recognition of foreign bankruptcies.

Amongst other amendments, the proposal contains the following modifications:

•  It is proposed to abandon the requirement of reciprocity, which is currently still a pre-requisite for the recognition of foreign bankruptcies (cf. art. 166 para 1. lit. c SPILA).
• Following international trends, indirect jurisdiction is to be extended. In future, not only bankruptcy orders rendered at the debtor’s domicile but also those rendered in the state of the centre of main interests of the debtor (under the condition that the debtor was not resident in Switzerland at the time of the opening of the foreign bankruptcy proceedings) should be recognized (art. 166 para. 1 lit. c nr. 2 rev-SPILA).
• Currently, the recognition of a foreign bankruptcy order necessarily leads to the opening of secondary insolvency proceedings with regard to the debtor’s assets located in Switzerland. Claims secured by pledge and privileged claims of creditors domiciled in Switzerland are satisfied in advance. The preliminary draft provides for a rule according to which a a waiver of secondary insolvency proceedings is possible where there is no need for a protection of claims secured by pledge and domestic creditors (art. 174a para. 1 rev-SPILA). In the event of the court approving the request for a waiver, the foreign bankruptcy administrator is supposed to have all powers that the debtor had before the foreign bankruptcy proceedings were opened. Accordingly, assets located in Switzerland would be at the disposal of the foreign bankruptcy administrator in this case (art. 174a para. 2 rev-SPILA).
• The draft also contains a rule according to which domestic authorities and institutions shall coordinate their actions with foreign authorities and institutions (art. 174b rev-SPILA).
• Furthermore, it is proposed that foreign judgments on avoidance claims and insolvency related claims are to be recognised by Swiss courts subject to certain prerequisites (art. 174c rev-SPILA).

Subsequent legislative process

As a next step, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice will prepare a report on the results of the consultation procedure. Based on this report, the Federal Council (Bundesrat), i.e. the Swiss government, will decide on the further procedure.

The Federal Council has the option to submit a final draft to the Federal Parliament, which may either adhere to the preliminary draft or contain limited or extensive amendments. In either case, the final draft is issued a long with a dispatch (Botschaft). Subsequently, the final draft will be discussed in the Parliament.

The Federal Council might, however, also decide to no longer pursue the revision of the 11th title of SPILA or to instruct the Swiss Federal Office of Justice to undertake further clarifications regarding the revision project.

The U.S. Library of Congress has just published its first multinational report which considers some fundamental questions underlying the practice of comparative law: who makes the laws, and how are the laws made? The report covers eleven diverse jurisdictions from Asia, North America and Europe, and discusses the constitutional status and role of the national parliament, its structure and composition, and the lawmaking process in each jurisdiction. For students and scholars of comparative law–and in particular the comparative lawmaking process–this report is a very useful reference tool.