Review article
https://doi.org/10.21857/y26kecl329
The Consequences of Brexit for the Maritime Law of the European Union
Zoran Tasić
orcid.org/0009-0005-9645-7367
; Dedicato Consulting, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
The question is posed in this paper of what repercussions Brexit will have on maritime law and on the maritime industry of the European Union. This is because the Commercial Court in London has been dealing with disputes arising from the international carriage of goods by sea for centuries. Approximately 80% of all disputes before that Court and the Admiralty Court are maritime, shipping and shipbuilding disputes. Approximately 70% of such disputes are international. The majority of judges of the Commercial Court and of the Admiralty Court, as well as a substantial number of solicitors and barristers and court expert witnesses are specialised or have experience in shipping law. All this means that London has been and remains the dominant jurisdiction for resolving international shipping disputes. The pragmatic approach to the question of liability and allocation of risk in shipping ventures, and the detailed analysis of the specific circumstances of every case, among other things, make English court decisions unique. At the end of the UK exit negotiations on 31 December 2020, the Brussels I Recast, the Lugano Convention 2007, and Rome I and Rome II ceased to apply. These regulations and conventions deal with jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in civil and commercial matters among EU Member States and the law chosen by the parties. This means that the automatic recognition and enforcement of the English Commercial Court judgments by the courts in the European Union (and vice versa) has ended. In these circumstances, the question is whether shipping companies, marine insurance companies, shipyards and other marine industries in the European Union will continue to choose with confidence English law as the governing law of their contracts and English court jurisdiction for settling their shipping disputes. We believe that they will, especially because of the uniquely high level of certainty, clearness and predictability of English shipping law and English court decisions. Furthermore, because of the high level of understanding of the specifics of the maritime industry which has been provided by London to the maritime industries of the European Union and the world for centuries.
Keywords
Brexit; English Law; Courts of England and Wales; English Case Law; Maritime Disputes; European Union Legislation; Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments
Hrčak ID:
312324
URI
Publication date:
27.12.2023.
Visits: 889 *