PURPOSE: to amend Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 (the
so-called Brussels I Regulation) on jurisdiction and the
recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial
matters.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament
and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European
Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative
procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: Regulation
(EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council
on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in
civil and commercial matters (Brussels I Regulation (recast)),
recasting Regulation (EC) No 44/2001, was adopted. Regulation (EU)
No 1215/2012 will enter into application on 10 January
2015.
In December 2012, an agreement was reached on the
so-called “patent package”:
- two Regulations on the unified patent (Regulation (EU) No 1257/2012 and Regulation
(EU) No 1260/2012). These were adopted in enhanced cooperation
involving 25 Member States (all Member States except Italy and
Spain); and
- an international Agreement (the "Unified Patent Court
Agreement" or "UPC Agreement"),
laying the ground for the creation of unitary patent protection in
the European Union. This was signed on 19 Februrary 2013 by the
majority of Member States.
Article 89(1) of the UPC Agreement provides that the
Agreement cannot enter into force prior to the entry into force of
the amendments to the Brussels I Regulation (recast) regulating the
relationship between both instruments.
On 15 October 2012, the three Member States (Belgium,
Luxembourg and the Netherlands) who are Contracting Parties to the
Treaty of 31 March 1965 concerning the establishment and statute of
a Benelux Court of Justice signed a Protocol modifying the
said Treaty creating the possibility to extend the competences of
the Benelux Court of Justice to include jurisdictional competences
in specific matters which come within the scope of the Brussels I
Regulation.
As a result, similar to the UPC Agreement, the
Protocol to the Benelux Treaty requires an amendment to the
Brussels I Regulation (recast) with the aim (i) to ensure
compliance between the revised Treaty and the Brussels I Regulation
(recast), and (ii) to address the lack of common jurisdiction rules
vis-à-vis defendants in non-European Union
States.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT: the matter of jurisdictional rules
vis-à-vis State defendants was extensively assessed in
the Commission's impact assessment accompanying the legislative
proposal amending Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 on jurisdiction and
the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and
commercial matters ("Brussels I"). The conclusions of that
assessment are a fortiori relevant for the limited
harmonisation foreseen in this proposal.
LEGAL BASIS: Article 67(4) and points (a), (c) and (e)
of Article 81(2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union (TFEU).
CONTENT: this proposal aims, firstly, at allowing
the entry into force of the UPC Agreement. Article 89(1) of the
UPC Agreement makes the entry into force of the Agreement dependent
on the amendment of Regulation (EC) No 1215/2012. In addition, the
proposal aims at ensuring compliance with the Brussels I
Regulation of this Agreement as well as the Protocol to the Benelux
Treaty of 1965.
In order to ensure the combined and coherent
application of the Agreement and Protocol and the Brussels I
Regulation (recast), it is necessary to address the following
issues in the Brussels I Regulation (recast):
- clarify in the text of the Regulation that the
Unified Patent Court and the Benelux Court of Justice are
‘courts’ within the meaning of the Brussels I
Regulation;
- clarify the operation of the rules on
jurisdiction with respect to the Unified Patent Court and the
Benelux Court of Justice insofar as defendants domiciled in Member
States are concerned;
- create uniform rules for the international
jurisdiction vis-à-vis third State defendants in
proceedings against such defendants brought in the Unified Patent
Court and Benelux Court of Justice in situations where the Brussels
I Regulation does not itself provide for such rules but refers to
national law;
- define the application of the rules on lis
pendens and related actions in relation to the Unified
Patent Court and the Benelux Court of Justice, on the one hand, and
the national courts of Member States which are not Contracting
Party to the respective international agreements on the
other;
- clarify the operation of the rules on recognition
and enforcement in the relations between Member States which
are and Member States which are not Contracting Parties to the
respective international agreements.
BUDGETARY IMPLICATION: the proposal has no
implications for the European Union’s budget.