Towards a new interface between Brussels I and arbitration?

Abstract

Arbitral tribunals and state courts are currently called upon to coexist in the European Judicial Space without being clearly coordinated with each other. The author wonders whether Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012, irrespective of restating the arbitration exclusion, brings a novelty in this regard by way of Recital 12-which sets out the arbitration exclusion's scope-and Article 73(2)-which safeguards the 1958 New York Convention. Certain well known issues concerning the interface between Brussels I and arbitration-such as the risk of conflicting decisions either on the merits or on the arbitration agreement, the defence against derailing or delaying tactics flouting an arbitration agreement, the enforcement of anti-suit injunctions or judgments awarding damages for breach of the obligation to arbitrate-have been reviewed so as to appreciate whether and to what extent things have really changed.