Abstract

The provisions concerning the problem of lis pendens (pending case) constitute one of the key issues of the review of the Brussels I regulation prepared by the EU legislator. As compared with the old wording, the new regulation gives more attention to the challenges which have appeared in the judicial practice in cross-border cases. First of all, under the new regulation the court prorogued by the parties in a contract will as a rule have priority over other courts having jurisdiction pursuant to the regulations, regardless of whether the case was first brought into it. This will help to prevent cases of bringing actions to courts other than the court agreed in the contract in order to make the case pending and force the defendant to raise defence before those courts. Apart from that, under the new provisions courts will be obliged to more far reaching and more effective exchange of information in case of parallel proceedings. Moreover, the issue of the consequences of a case pending before a third country court, that is a non-EU state, has been regulated for the first time. In such case the court in a Member State may suspend the proceedings concerning the same claim between the same parties if there is a justified expectation that a third country court will pass a judgment recognizable and enforceable in a Member State and if suspension proves to be necessary for correct administration of justice. The article discusses in detail all the changes made, as well as the proposals which have not been effected.