Circuit Court Office Notice

Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 (known as "Brussels I recast"), which repeals and replaces Regulation No 44/2001 (known as "Brussels I") on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, will have application from the 10th January 2015.

Rules of court to facilitate the operation of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 will be introduced after a statutory instrument under the European Communities Act 1972 has been signed for the purpose of giving full effect to that Regulation.

This notice is issued pending the introduction of the rules of court for the assistance of litigants and practitioners. It does not purport to be a legal interpretation of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012  or an exhaustive statement of the requirements of that Regulation and does not constitute, nor should it be relied upon as, legal advice. Litigants and practitioners are referred to the full text of that Regulation, which may be accessed on-line at:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:351:0001:0032:en:PDF

Article 66 of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 provides:

"1. This Regulation shall apply only to legal proceedings instituted, to authentic instruments formally drawn up or registered and to court settlements approved or concluded on or after 10 January 2015.

2. Notwithstanding Article 80, Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 shall continue to apply to judgments given in legal proceedings instituted, to authentic instruments formally drawn up or registered and to court settlements approved or concluded before 10 January 2015 which fall within the scope of that Regulation."

Article 80 provides:

"This Regulation shall repeal Regulation (EC) No 44/2001. References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table set out in Annex III."

Annex III (pages 29 - 32) of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 contains a table correlating the Articles of that Regulation to the Articles of Regulation No 44/2001 which they replace (whether wholly or in part).

For the assistance of litigants and practitioners, reference is made below to relevant provisions of the existing Rules of the Superior Courts. References in those provisions to Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 should be read, in relation to proceedings affected, as references to Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012.

Litigants and practitioners should, as regards
(a) civil or commercial proceedings falling within the scope of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 (as to which see Articles 1 to 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012) which the High Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine by virtue of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 or

(b) the enforcement in Ireland of a judgment given in a civil or commercial matter by a court in another EU Member State in proceedings commenced on or after 10th January 2015, or of an authentic instrument formally drawn up or registered or a court settlement approved or concluded in another EU Member State on or after that date,

have regard in particular to the following:

1. An originating summons should, before it is issued, be indorsed with a statement that:

(i) the High Court has the power under Regulation No. 1215/2012 to hear and determine the claim and specifying the particular provision(s) of Regulation No. 1215/2012 under which the High Court should assume jurisdiction;

(ii) no proceedings between the parties concerning the same cause of action are pending between the parties in another Member State of the European Union, and

(iii) in matters referred to in Sections 3, 4 or 5 of Regulation No. 1215/2012 where the policyholder, the insured, a beneficiary of the insurance contract, the injured party, the consumer or the employee is the defendant,:

(a) the defendant has a right to contest the jurisdiction of the High Court and if he or she wishes to do so, he or she should enter an appearance to contest jurisdiction in accordance with Order 11A, rule 8 of the Rules of the Superior Courts ("RSC"));

(b) if he or she enters an unconditional appearance, the High Court has jurisdiction under Article 26(1) of Regulation No. 1215/2012, and

(c) if he or she does not enter any appearance, judgment may be given in default against him or her.

(See Order 4, rule 1A, RSC: requirements (i) and (ii) reflect the requirements heretofore; requirement (iii) is an additional requirement arising from the provisions of Regulation No. 1215/2012).

2. Where an application is made to enter judgment in default of appearance, the affidavit grounding that application should state that in the deponent’s belief:

(i) each claim made by the summons is one which, by virtue of Regulation No. 1215/2012, the High Court has power to hear and determine and

(ii) no other court has exclusive jurisdiction within the meaning of Regulation No. 1215/2012 to hear and determine the claim (see Order 11D, rule 5(4) and Order 13A, rule 2, RSC).

3. Where an appearance is entered to contest jurisdiction by virtue of the provisions of Regulation No. 1215/2012, the form of appearance (see Appendix A, Part II, RSC, Form No. 6, and Order 11A, rule 8, RSC) should be headed "In the matter of Article 26(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1215/2012".

4. A statement of claim should be indorsed with a statement that

(i) the High Court has power under Regulation No. 1215/2012 to hear and determine the claim and should specify the particular provisions of Regulation No. 1215/2012 under which the High Court should assume jurisdiction (see Order 19, rule 3A, RSC) and

(ii) no proceedings between the parties concerning the same cause of action are pending between the parties in another Member State of the European Union.

5. The grounding affidavit in an application for provisional, including protective, measures under Article 35 of Regulation No. 1215/2012 made ex parte to the High Court should specify the relevant provisional measures sought pursuant to Article 35 of Regulation No. 1215/2012 (see Order 42A, rule 3, RSC).

6. The affidavit grounding an application to a Registrar for a certificate of enforceability of a judgment should state the particular provision or provisions of Regulation No. 1215/2012 by which the court assumed jurisdiction (see Order 42A, rule 21, RSC).

7. Where a person applies for enforcement measures in respect of a judgment, authentic instrument or court settlement to which Article 39 of Regulation No. 1215/2012 applies, the person should, in addition to producing to the proper officer the documents required by Article 42 of Regulation No. 1215/2012, alsoproduce an affidavit of service of the certificate issued by the court of origin pursuant to Article 53 of Regulation No. 1215/2012 in the manner provided by Article 43 of Regulation No. 1215/2012 (This is a new requirement arising from the provisions of Regulation No. 1215/2012 in cases where an order giving liberty to enforce is no longer required).

Circuit & District Court Operations
9th January 2015.