One of the relatively unsung success stories of the European Union (and its predecessors) is its experiment in judicial co-operation. The first major component of this experiment was the 1968 Brussels Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters. The Brussels Convention was updated, and partly superseded, by Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. Regulation 44/2001 (now referred to as the “Original Brussels Regulation”) has been recast by 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 (referred to as the “Recast Brussels Regulation”).

For those dealing with transactions and disputes across borders in Europe, these fundamental pieces of legislation address two very important issues: which EU courts have jurisdiction, and how judgments from one Member State can be recognized and enforced in another Member State. They also touch on a number of other features of international disputes including, for example, the relationship between arbitration and litigation and the validity of court selection clauses.