The Evolution of European Private International Law: Coherence, Common Values and Consolidation

25 November 2014 - 26 November 2014

Time: 1:30 - 1:20pm
Venue: British Institute of International and Comparative Law, Charles Clore House, 17 Russell Square, London WC1B 5JP

The last decade has seen a number of important legislative developments in the field of European Private International Law and Cross-Border Litigation, including the Rome I-III Regulations, the Brussels I (Recast) and Brussels II bis Regulations, the Succession Regulation, and other instruments in the area of civil procedure. As these legislative initiatives were introduced at different stages and aimed at different objectives, the question is whether they constitute a coherent legal framework, with common legal concepts, and fostered the development of common values and principles of conflict of laws and jurisdictions, or whether they need consolidation or even a new structure.

The aim of the conference is to assess the existing EU Private International Law framework and reflect on ways of its future evolution.

This event is convened by Dr Eva Lein, British Institute of International and Comparative Law and Professor Stavros Brekoulakis, CCLS, Queen Mary University of London.

Programme

Download the programme [PDF 180KB] for this conference.

Tuesday 25 November 2014, 13.30-18.00

13.15 Registration

13.30 Welcome (Stavros Brekoulakis and Eva Lein)

13.40-16.00 Panel 1: Coherence and Gaps, Values and Principles

• Chair: Trevor Hartley
• Coherence of EU Regulations on the applicable law – Gaps, common values and principles (Stephanie Francq)
• Coherence of the EU legal framework on conflict of jurisdictions & recognition and enforcement? - Gaps, common values and principles (Georgios Dimitropoulos)
• Synergies between instruments on conflict of laws and jurisdictions (Eva Lein)
• Role and contribution of the CJEU in the development of a coherent European PIL (Marta Requejo)
• A practitioner’s perspective on the coherence of PIL (Adam Johnson)
• Discussion

15.50-16.10 Coffee Break

16.20-18.00 Panel 2: A need for more coherence and consolidation? 

• Chair: Franco Ferrari
• Synergies between the HCCH work and European PIL (Marta Pertegas)
• Is there a need for consolidation? For a Rome 0 or Brussels 0 Regulation? (Helene van Lith)
• Should there be an EU PIL code? Values of codification against de-codification and scope of a code? A Business PIL Code? (Gilles Cuniberti)
• Perspective of the European Commission (Katja Lenzing)

17.30-18.00 Discussion

18.00 Reception

19.15 Speakers dinner

Wednesday 26 November 2014, 9.30-13.15

9.30-11.00 Panel 3: Common principles in the area of choice of law ("Rome 0") - Selected topics

• Chair: Christian Koller
• Party autonomy (Jonathan Harris)
• Connecting factors, including habitual residence and domicile (Pippa Rogerson)
• Closest connection and escape clauses (Francisco Garcimartin)
• Public policy (Stavros Brekoulakis)
• Discussion

11.20-11.40 Coffee break

11.30-13.20 Panel 4: Common principles in the area of procedure ("Brussels O") – Selected topics

• Chair: Richard Fentiman
• Jurisdiction (Janet Walker)
• Lis pendens and res judicata (Pietro Franzina)
• Recognition and enforcement (Jonathan Fitchen)
• Discussion
• Conclusions: Ulrich Magnus

Photography, video and audio recording

Please note that CCLS events may be photographed or video and audio recorded. These materials will be used for internal and external promotional purposes only by Queen Mary University of London. If you object to appearing in the photographs, please let our photographer know on the day. Alternatively you can email the CCLS Events Team on ccls-events@qmul.ac.uk in advance of the event that you are attending.