Withdrawal Agreement Article 67

While the UK and the EU concluded a trade and cooperation agreement on 30 December 2020, this agreement leaves out the area of European civil procedure law, which in this area amounts to a “hard Brexit”. The United Kingdom`s accession to the Lugano Convention of 30 October 2007 on Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (hereinafter referred to as the “Lugano Convention”) also appears to have failed. As the United Kingdom is ready to accede to the Lugano Convention on 8 April 2020, the necessary consent of all Contracting Parties has not been obtained, even after the expiry of the one-year period provided for in Article 72(3) of the Lugano Convention. The applicable law or applicable law of a Contract is the substantive law under which this Agreement is to be construed in the event of a dispute. Applicable law may significantly affect the outcome of a dispute as it governs matters including the terms of the contract, the breach of these Terms, and remedies for breach. Before the end of the transition period, UK courts applied EU Regulations 593/2008 (Rome I) and 864/2007 (Rome II) to determine the law applicable to contractual and non-contractual obligations, respectively. Article 67(1) of the Withdrawal Agreement confirms that the current position will remain unchanged until the end of the Withdrawal Agreement, with: unlike Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 or the Lugano Convention, for example, the Hague Convention on Judicial Conventions remains limited in its scope. In addition to the fact that the Hague Convention on Jurisdiction Agreements concerns only the recognition and enforcement of judgments of courts designated in an exclusive jurisdiction agreement, Article 2 thereof contains a comprehensive list of situations excluded from its application. In addition to consumer issues, this also includes tort claims for property damage that do not arise from a contractual relationship, as well as rentals of real estate.

The UK is currently party to The Hague due to its EU membership, but this will cease when the UK leaves the EU on 31 January 2020. However, as mentioned earlier, the UK and the EU have agreed that the UK will be treated as an EU member state during the transition period for the purposes of international agreements, which will include The Hague. The UK would have joined The Hague itself in the event of a no-deal withdrawal immediately after the day of withdrawal, but given the Withdrawal Agreement, the intention now is for the UK to withdraw its instrument of accession and (presumably) accede at the end of the transition period. The United Kingdom was a party to the Hague Convention because of its membership of the EU. Unlike the Lugano Convention, the United Kingdom was able to accede to the Hague Convention on its own. This will be somewhat reassuring for parties involved in EU-wide disputes, given that the parties to the Hague Convention have agreed to maintain exclusive jurisdiction agreements and provide for a streamlined enforcement process. The Withdrawal Agreement provides (in Article 127) that Union law applies to and on the United Kingdom during the transition period, unless otherwise provided for in the Withdrawal Agreement, and any reference to EU Member States in Union law shall be understood as including the United Kingdom. EU law includes the various EU treaties, the general principles of EU law, EU legislation such as regulations and directives and (significantly) international agreements to which the EU is a party. There is a specific provision (in Article 129) that the UK is bound by the obligations arising from these international agreements during the transition period and that the EU notifies the other parties to these agreements that the UK is to be treated as an EU Member State for the purposes of those agreements during the transition period.

The United Kingdom has applied to become an independent party to the Lugano Convention, but it is required to obtain the unanimous consent of the current Parties and this consent from the EU has not yet been obtained.4 However, the United Kingdom has reached a separate agreement with Norway on mutual recognition and enforcement of decisions (see below). Competence is governed by Article 67(1) of the draft Withdrawal Agreement. Generally speaking, this draft agreement “both within the United Kingdom and in the Member States in situations where the United Kingdom is a party” provides as follows: The United Kingdom has recently concluded an agreement with Norway on mutual recognition and enforcement of judgments, effectively reviving a bilateral treaty between the two countries dating from 1961.9 This means: that, although the United Kingdom is no longer a party to the Lugano Convention, the judgments of the United Kingdom and Norway will continue to be recognised and enforced by the other. This agreement has received relatively little publicity, but it provides a model that could be replicated, especially with regard to EU states where the UK has a historic bilateral treaty. January 31, 2020 has arrived. The “Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community” was promulgated in the United Kingdom by the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 and ratified by the European Parliament on 29 January 2020. The United Kingdom will leave the European Union. The MIB has made good progress and a number of mutual agreements have been signed.

At the time of writing, the guarantee funds of the France, Poland and Romania have not yet concluded bilateral agreements to ensure that visitors who are victims of accidents involving uninsured or untraceable drivers continue to be compensated on a reciprocal basis. This article examines the new post-Brexit landscape in relation to three of the main cross-border dispute resolution issues: (1) applicable law, (2) choice of jurisdiction and (3) enforcement of judgments. Beyond that date, however, the MIB has already made considerable efforts to persuade EEA countries` offices and guarantee funds to sign bilateral agreements to protect visitors in order to facilitate the exchange of information once the UK withdraws from the provisions of the Directive, which allows victims of accidents abroad to seek compensation in their own country and language. In addition to the jurisdiction of the courts designated in an exclusive agreement conferring jurisdiction, the Hague Convention on Jurisdiction Agreements also regulates the recognition and enforcement of judgments of a court of a Contracting State designated in an exclusive agreement conferring jurisdiction in the other Contracting States. Under Article 8(1) and (2) of the Hague Convention on Jurisdiction Agreements, such judgments are, in principle, recognised and enforced without review of the merits of the judgment, unless there are obstacles to recognition and enforcement. .