District Court Office Notice

Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 (known as "Brussels I recast"), which repeals and replaces Regulation No 44/2001 (known as "Brussels I") on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, will have application from the 10th January 2015.

Rules of court to facilitate the operation of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 will be introduced after a statutory instrument under the European Communities Act 1972 has been signed for the purpose of giving full effect to that Regulation.

This notice is issued pending the introduction of the rules of court for the assistance of litigants and practitioners. It does not purport to be a legal interpretation of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012  or an exhaustive statement of the requirements of that Regulation and does not constitute, nor should it be relied upon as, legal advice. Litigants and practitioners are referred to the full text of that Regulation, which may be accessed on-line at:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2012:351:0001:0032:en:PDF

Article 66 of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 provides:

"1. This Regulation shall apply only to legal proceedings instituted, to authentic instruments formally drawn up or registered and to court settlements approved or concluded on or after 10 January 2015.

2. Notwithstanding Article 80, Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 shall continue to apply to judgments given in legal proceedings instituted, to authentic instruments formally drawn up or registered and to court settlements approved or concluded before 10 January 2015 which fall within the scope of that Regulation."

Article 80 provides:

"This Regulation shall repeal Regulation (EC) No 44/2001. References to the repealed Regulation shall be construed as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance with the correlation table set out in Annex III."

Annex III (pages 29 - 32) of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 contains a table correlating the Articles of that Regulation to the Articles of Regulation No 44/2001 which they replace (whether wholly or in part).

For the assistance of litigants and practitioners, reference is made below to relevant provisions of the existing District Court Rules. References in those provisions to Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 should be read, in relation to proceedings affected, as references to Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012.

Litigants and practitioners should, as regards

(a) civil or commercial proceedings falling within the scope of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 (as to which see Articles 1 to 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012) which the High Court has jurisdiction to hear and determine by virtue of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 or

(b) the enforcement in Ireland of a judgment given in a civil or commercial matter by a court in another EU Member State in proceedings commenced on or after 10th January 2015, or of an authentic instrument formally drawn up or registered or a court settlement approved or concluded on or after that date,

have regard in particular to the following:

1. The notice of the document commencing proceedings (Form 41B.01, Schedule C, District Court Rules ("DCR") and Order 41B, rule 5(2), DCR) should be entitled "In the matter of Article 26(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1215/2012" and should include the following indorsement immediately following the particulars of claim (taken from the claim notice or other relevant originating document):

"If you are sued in the capacity of the policyholder, the insured, or a beneficiary under an insurance contract; the injured party; a consumer or an employee:

(i) you have a right to contest the jurisdiction of this Court and if you wish to do so, you must give, or send by post, to the claimant or claimant’s solicitor at the address for service mentioned above an appearance contesting jurisdiction and a defence in Form 42.01, Schedule C of the District Court Rules, not later than five weeks [six weeks where the document is to be served in any non-European territory of another member State] after the service on you of this claim notice, and at the same time file a copy of your appearance contesting jurisdiction with the District Court Clerk at the address below, and

(ii) if you file an unconditional appearance, this Court has jurisdiction under Article 26 (1) of Regulation No. 1215/2012, and

(iii) if you do not file an appearance, judgment may be given in default against you."

2. The certificate as to jurisdiction required by Order 41B, rule 5(3), DCR, (in Form 41.B.02, Schedule C, DCR) should be entitled "In the matter of Council Regulation (EC) 1215/2012 (the "Jurisdiction Regulation")" and in Recital No. 2 should certify the basis of jurisdiction by reference to the provisions of Regulation No. 1215/2012.

3. Where a respondent intends to appear to be represented for the purposes of contesting the jurisdiction of the court by virtue of Article 26 of Regulation No. 1215/2012 and/or defending the proceedings, the respondent or respondent’s solicitor should as heretofore file an appearance and defence (in proceedings begun by claim notice) or a notice of appearance and intention to defend (in proceedings begun by civil summons or other document) and serve a copy on the claimant or the claimant’s solicitor within the period prescribed by Order 41B, rule 7, DCR.

4. Where the respondent has not filed an appearance, a claimant applying for judgment by default should show to the satisfaction of the court:

(i) that each claim made in the document instituting proceedings is one which, by virtue of the provisions of Regulation No. 1215/2012, the court has jurisdiction to hear and determine (see Order 41B, rule 8(4)(a), DCR) and

(ii) the matters required by Order 41B, rule 8(4)(b), (c), and (d), DCR as heretofore, and

(iii) that the respondent has been able to receive the document beginning the proceedings or notice of same in sufficient time to enable him or her to arrange for his or her defence or all necessary steps have been taken to this end as required by Article 28 of Regulation No. 1215/2012 (see Order 41B, rule 8(4)(e), DCR).

5. A draft certificate of enforceability of a judgment lodged for issue in accordance with Order 41B, rule 9(1), DCR (in Form 41.B.03, Schedule C, DCR) should be entitled "In the matter of Council Regulation (EC) 1215/2012 (the "Jurisdiction Regulation")" and in Recital No. 5 should state the particular provision or provisions of Regulation No. 1215/2012 by which the court assumed jurisdiction.

6. Where an application is made for the issue of a summons in accordance with section 15 of the Enforcement of Court Orders Act 1926 for the purpose of enforcing a judgment, authentic instrument or court settlement to which Article 39 of Regulation No. 1215/2012 applies, the applicant should exhibit to the statutory declaration supporting the application (Form 51A.03 Schedule C, DCR) the documents required by Article 42 of Regulation No. 1215/2012, and include in the statutory declaration evidence of service of the certificate issued by the court of origin pursuant to Article 53 of Regulation No. 1215/2012 in the manner provided by Article 43 of Regulation No. 1215/2012 (This is a new requirement arising from the provisions of Regulation No. 1215/2012 in cases where an order giving liberty to enforce is no longer required).

Circuit & District Court Operations
9th January 2015.