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Friederike Stumpe, LL.M.:
Report: 4th Summer Academy on International Dispute Resolution
9th – 14th of July 2007 - published in: SchiedsVZ, Heft 6/2007, S. VIII *

European and international civil procedure/2

The next thematic block dealt with the international civil proceedings in the USA. Dr. Richard Kreindler (Shearman & Sterling, Frankfurt) elucidated the American perspective in his lecture and Prof. Burkhard Hess, dean of the Heidelberg law faculty and director of the Centre, demonstrated defence strategies in German American legal relations on the basis of practical case studies. These lectures included the peculiarities of the common law system, such as pre-trial discovery, which can influence German civil proceedings in cases of legal assistance [U.S. Code, Title 28, § 1782], punitive damages and the forum non conveniens rule. The lectures also discussed the jurisdiction of American courts, delivery, evidence  by witness and American class actions.

Prof. Hilmar Raeschke-Kaiser, lawyer at the German Federal Court of Justice, gave an overview over “Transnational Civil Litigation”. He developed the notion of “transnational” rules of civil proceedings with the participants and addressed the ALI/UNIDROIT Principles of Transnational Civil Procedure. Due to his international experience as arbitrator and as a member of different study groups and associations in this sector, Prof. Raeschke-Kaiser delivered insight into the practice of international arbitration law.

Then Luc Demeyere (Allen & Overy, Antwerp) talked about the relation between European civil proceedings and arbitration proceedings. Amongst other things, Mr. Demeyere explained the application of different European acts to arbitration proceedings and referred to the relevant case law of the ECJ. He specially discussed the Brussels-I Regulation, the Evidence Regulation [Council Regulation (EC) No 1206/2001 of 28 May 2001 on cooperation between the courts of the Member States in the taking of evidence in civil or commercial matters], the Service Regulation [Council regulation (EC) No 1348/2000 of 29 May 2000 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters] and the Regulation on the European Enforcement Order. Furthermore, he addressed the question whether an anti-suit-injunction concerning an arbitration clause violated European community law. This question is now pending before the ECJ [West Tanklers Inc. v. RAS Riunione Adriatica du Sicurta SpA& Ors.((2007) UKHL 4), brought before the ECJ by the House of Lords].

The former advocate general at the ECJ, Prof. Dr. Carl Otto Lenz, explained the proceedings before the ECJ to the participants. He based his explanation on a case study concerning the “Bosman” proceedings [C-415/93]. In this case he had delivered the opinion of the advocate general. Prof. Dr. Lenz provided an interesting insight into this and other proceedings due to his first-hand experience.

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Please find [here] reports of the first four Summer Academies