A critical analysis of the interpretation given to the notion of civil and commercial matters by the Court of Justice of the European Union, appertaining the European Union private international law regulations

Abstract

The Brussels Regime has been a great cornerstone in the development of the European Private International Law. It concerns the recognition and automatic enforcement of judgments which are of a civil and commercial nature across borders. The first exclusions of the Regulation to be listed concerned revenue, customs and administrative matters. However, the Recast Regulation additionally excluded from its scope of application acta iure imperii; that is, any acts of the State which are of a public nature. Moreover, it shall not apply to cases relating to arbitration, social security, family law, bankruptcy or insolvency. The first chapter explains better the Regulations, whereas the following chapters, with the aid of the literature review, give a detailed discussion regarding the lacuna in the area of Private International Law which this paper aims to fill. This dissertation shall be critically analyzing the interpretation given by the CJEU of the notion of ‘civil and commercial matters’ and determining whether the scope of the Regulation should be limited to this interpretation or if an explicit definition should be established in the Regulation by way of the next amendments. It will also be going into detail about what consequences may arise subject to said implementation, said implications being positive or negative. Mainly, it will indicate how beneficial it would be to have such a definition and how this is indeed the most practical step in the contribution of the development of European Private International Law by way of filling this void.