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By Anne-Catherine de Bruchard, Director of the Foundation's Brussels Office
Consolidation of the Brussels I Regulation
The European Commission presented a proposal to consolidate Regulation 44/2001/EC, called "Brussels I", which concerns the jurisdiction, the recognition and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.
The main changes proposed include:
- Elimination of the intermediate procedure for acknowledgement and enforcement of legal judgments (exequatur), except for decisions in libel cases and class actions for damages;
- The extension of jurisdiction rules to disputes involving defendants
from other countries;
- An increased effectiveness of the choice of forum agreements;
- Improving the link between settlement and arbitration;
- Better coordination of proceedings before the courts of Member States;
- Improving access to justice for certain types of litigation;
- Clarifying the conditions under which protective and interim measures can circulate within the Union.
Access to the full document:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/policies/civil/docs/com_2010_748_fr.pdf
Green Paper on Public Records and Civil Acts
In order to prepare two legislative proposals for 2013 provided by the Stockholm Program, the European Commission published a Green Paper entitled "Promoting the Free Flow of Public Records and Recognition of the Effects of Vital Records," to facilitate administrative procedures for citizens.
A public consultation is thus open until April 30, 2011.
For the aspect of free movement of public documents, the questioning focuses
on:
a) removal of administrative formalities for the authentication of
documents;
b) cooperation between national authorities with jurisdiction;
c) the limitation of translations for public records;
d) creation of a European certificate of civil status;
and for the recognition aspect of the effects of acts of civil status, it covers:
a) assisting national authorities in the search for practical solutions;
b) the recognition of right in a Member State, situations of civil status established in other Member States;
c) recognition based on the harmonization of rules governing conflicts of law.
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/policies/civil/docs/com_2010_747_fr.pdf
Cross-Border Divorce
Using the enhanced cooperation mechanism for the first time, which this time involves 14 of the 27 EU Member States (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, France, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Slovenia), the Ministers of Justice of the European Union and the European Parliament approved new rules that provide greater legal certainty to couples in divorce cases across borders. These rules will enter into force in the second half of 2012.
The statement from the European
Commission:
Criminal Procedures
The EU Ministers of Justice approved a draft regulation guaranteeing defendants the right to information in criminal proceedings. This law is now under review by the European Parliament (report by Mrs. Birgit Sippel). One of the key challenges that has emerged is how to take into account the differences between civil law countries and common law countries.
The statement from the European
Commission:
Cross-Border Tax Barriers
The European Commission published a paper in which it announced its plans to address the cross-border tax issues that citizens of the Union face (double taxation on income and on capital, inheritance rights, non-deductibility of registration fees, etc.).
Access to the full document:
Sanctions in the Financial Services Sector
The financial crisis revealed to what extent sanctions in the financial services sector differed from one Member State to another. Starting with this finding, the European Commission published a paper promoting their convergence by establishing minimum standards so that sanctions would be effective deterrents, while leaving Member States some flexibility in order to apply them in a manner compatible with their legal systems. It invites interested parties to submit comments before February 19, 2011.
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/docs/2010/sanctions/COM_2010_0716_fr.pdf
European Union and the United States
Several current topics have drawn our attention:
1) The U.S. Department of Commerce and the DG Enterprise of the European Commission have launched a joint Internet site devoted to intellectual property on both sides of the Atlantic to help SMEs to find and use the resources developed to enforce their rights in such matters. He suggests that "toolkits" be included with other countries (Brazil, China, India, etc..)
The joint site:
2) As part of a joint meeting of the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC), the
European Union and the United States decided to establish an early warning system
to notify each other in advance of their
respective legislatures' laws (especially in the field of new
technologies).
The text of the joint statement:
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2010/december/tradoc_147140.final.pdf
3) The talks between the EU and the United States
on an agreement about personal data as part of the fight against terrorism and
crime, began Dec. 9 in
Washington.
The statement from the European
Commission:
European Union and China
The EU and China held their 3rd "economic dialogue" on December 20 and 21 in Beijing. Among the many topics discussed, we should note in particular the desire to simplify the Chinese system of mandatory certification or even to guarantee the implementation of effective intellectual property rights in China.
The statement from the European Commission: