Brussels I and Arbitration Revisited – The European Commission’s Proposal COM(2010) 748 final –

Abstract

In December 2010, the European Commission presented its long-awaited proposal for a reformed Brussels I Regulation. One of the cornerstones of the proposal is the interface between the Regulation and arbitration. In the first part, the article sets out the development of the exclusion of arbitration from the Regulation's scope up to the West Tankers and National Navigation cases. In the second, main part, the author, who is a member of the Commission's Expert Group on the arbitration interface, provides a detailed account and evaluation of the new lis pendens-mechanism established by the Commission proposal in order to effectively prevent parallel proceedings in the arbitration context. In the third, final part, the author scrutinizes the Commission proposal against the background of the Commission's Impact Assessment before concluding with a short resumé.

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Keywords: Arbitration, Brussels I, 44/2001, Brussels I Reform, COM(2010) 748, parallel proceedings, West Tankers