Commission reiterates stance on UK Lugano Accession

On 4 May 2021 the European Commission announced in a Communication to the European Parliament and Council that it was opposed to the UK's accession to the Lugano Convention. That view was not final but, following further deliberation, the European Commission has sent a Communication to the Swiss Federal Council as Depositary of the Lugano Convention, formally blocking the UK's accession. In a Communication to the Parties of the Lugano Convention on 1 July 2021, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland announced the European Commission's refusal to provide its consent.

Officially, the EU has not taken a decision as to whether to accept the UK's application or not, but such a decision can only be taken if the Commission puts a proposal to the European Council, which it appears to have no intention of doing at this point.

It appears that commercial parties will for now need to navigate the requirements of different national regimes for the recognition of jurisdiction clauses in their agreements and the enforcement of judgments across the new border. The 2005 Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements offers some assistance for certain jurisdiction clauses and, in the longer term, the proposed 2019 Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters may improve matters if the EU and UK both become signatories.

For more detail on the implications, read our articles here on life after Lugano and here on the wider post-Brexit cross-border disputes landscape. Also explore our Brexit enforcement toolkit.