Prof Dr Burkard Hess, Director of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg will give a public lecture on the free movement of European judgements following the recent revamp of the Brussels I Regulation on the and the seemingly contradictory outcome of the “Povse versus Austria" case at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) last year.

Burkard Hess’ lecture entitled “Where do we stand after the recast of Regulation Brussels I and the Povse decision of the European Court of Human Rights?” is organised by the University of Luxembourg’s Faculty of Law, Economic and Finance to launch its 2014 Lecture Series.

It will take place in English on Tuesday 14 January from 18:00 at the University of Luxembourg Weicker Building, room B001 on the ground floor: 4, rue Alphonse Weicker, L-2721 Luxembourg.

The free movement of judgments is considered as the fifth fundamental freedom in the European Union. According to this principle, judgments from one Member State can be enforced in other Member States without the need for any further formalities.

Over the last decade, this principle has undergone considerable development. For the European law maker, the abolition of so-called exequatur proceedings brought about by the recast Brussels I Regulations was considered a priority. However, there was significant resistance in Member States with regard to the objective of not only abolishing exequatur proceedings, but also the limited grounds for review of foreign judgments (such as public policy). Nevertheless, several sectorial EU-instruments, like the European Enforcement Order or the European Small Claims Regulation, comprehensively abolished the review in the Member State of enforcement.

This political concept, mainly promoted by the EU Commission, eventually failed in the negotiations on the recast of the Brussels I Regulation. However, the political argument that the review of public policy in the Member State of enforcement must be maintained for constitutional reasons was recently rejected by the European Court of Human Rights in the so-called Povse-decision.

This contradictory situation raises the question concerning the development of the principle of free movement of judgments in the European Union. The inaugural lecture will:

• appraise of the present situation and:
• explore future avenues of the fundamental freedom of free movements of judgments within the European area.

In this context, the future development of European procedural law will also be addressed.

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Registration is required to fdef-colloques@uni.lu.