The Application of Brussels I (recast) in the Legal Practice of EU Member States

1 May 2016 - 31 October 2018

Aims of the Project

This project assessed the application of Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 (Brussels I recast or Brussels I-bis) on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by the national legal orders. The Regulation became applicable on 10 January 2015. The project aimed to get a better understanding of its functioning and focused on a number of changes that have been made in comparison with the previous Regulation.

Regulation 1215/2012 introduces a number of important changes in comparison to Regulation 44/2001. This project focussed on four main novelties: 1) the application of jurisdiction rules vis-à-vis third country defendants (in particular in regard of consumer and employment contracts); 2) the application of the choice of forum rule; 3) the application of the lis pendens rules; 4) the functioning of the enforcement rules, abolishing exequatur (including judgments granting provisional and protective measures). The general problem the project investigated was the functioning of new EU PIL legislation in the legal practice of the national legal orders and factors that contribute to successful implementation.

Outputs 

As part of the project, a web survey was developed, directed at EU legal practitioners and academic experts. The web survey can be found here. Furthermore, a database was developed. Its main function is to identify court decisions from the EU Member States that apply provisions of the Regulation and are publicly accessible. The database provides links to the texts of the applicable judgments in their original language as available from a public source, in addition to references to court decisions not available from a public source. The database can be found here. A synthesis report, setting out findings from the web survey, from telephone interviews that were held with selected participants in the web survey and from research in the database of court decisions was drafted in December 2018. The text can be found here.

Partners & Project Team

This research was conducted by the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in cooperation with Erasmus University Rotterdam and the University of Amsterdam. Project team members were:

The project was funded by the European Commission, DG Justice (JUST/2014/JCOO/AG).