The Brussels Regulation concerning European jurisdiction will be
amended with effect from 10 January 2015. The changes made to
Articles 25, 29 and 31 (2) were made " in order to enhance the
effectiveness of exclusive choice-of-court agreements and to avoid
abusive litigation tactics...."
The new exception to the lis pendens rule deals with a situation
where a court not designated in an exclusive choice-of-court
agreement has been seised of proceedings and the designated court
is seised subsequently of proceedings involving the same cause of
action and between the same parties. In such a case, the court
first seised should be required to stay its proceedings as soon as
the designated court has been seised and until such time as the
latter court declares that it has no jurisdiction under the
exclusive choice-of-court agreement. This is to ensure that, in
such a situation, the designated court has priority to decide on
the validity of the agreement and on the extent to
