The conduct of international arbitration proceedings, from
enforcement of arbitration agreements to enforcement of arbitral
awards, sometimes involves actions before the courts. In the
European Union (EU), international arbitration has
to co-exist, not only with national procedural law in each
jurisdiction, but also with EU procedural law, which harmonises
jurisdiction and enforcement rules amongst the EU states.
EU procedural harmonisation is orchestrated through the
application by each EU State of Council Regulation
(EC) 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction
and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and
commercial matters (hereafter the "Brussels Regulation").
The objective of the Brussels Regulation is the creation of an EU
area of justice, where parallel court proceedings are prevented and
judicial decisions can circulate easily.
