Arbitration in EU Jurisdiction Regulation: Brussels I Recast and a New Proposal

22 Pages Posted: 29 May 2015

See all articles by Neil Dowers

Neil Dowers

University of Edinburgh

Zheng (Sophia) Tang

Wuhan University Institute of International Law

Date Written: May 29, 2015

Abstract

The relationship between the European jurisdiction regime and arbitration is one of the areas generating confusion and disputes. The Brussels I Regulation clearly excludes arbitration from its scope to avoid conflicts with the New York Convention, but arbitration-related issues, such as the validity of arbitration agreements, either as an independent claim or an incidental question, frequently arise in courts. The scope of the Brussels I Regulation in terms of arbitration has been addressed by the Court of Justice of the European Union in a number of decisions, such as Marc Rich v Societa Italiano Impianti, Van Uden, and Front Comor. None of them have provided a satisfactory answer. In order to provide clarification and to reconcile the European jurisdiction Regulation and the New York Convention, the Brussels I Recast has inserted a new recital specifically addressing the relationship between court jurisdiction and arbitration. This article aims to assess the effect of the new recital and whether it has appropriately resolved the difficult questions on the relationship between jurisdiction and arbitration in the European Union.

Keywords: Arbitration; Brussels I Recast; EU jurisdiction regime; arbitration agreement

JEL Classification: K33, K39

Suggested Citation

Dowers, Neil and Tang, Zheng, Arbitration in EU Jurisdiction Regulation: Brussels I Recast and a New Proposal (May 29, 2015). Groningen Journal of International Law, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2015, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2611339

Neil Dowers

University of Edinburgh ( email )

Old College
South Bridge
Edinburgh, Scotland EH8 9JY
United Kingdom

Zheng Tang (Contact Author)

Wuhan University Institute of International Law ( email )

Institute of International Law
Wuhan University
Wuhan, Hubei 430072
China

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
835
Abstract Views
2,366
Rank
53,981
PlumX Metrics