Lis Pendens,Choice of Court Agreements and Abuse of Law Under Brussels Ibis

The Brussels Ibis Regulation aims to ‘improve the efficiency of choice of court agreements’ following widespread criticism of the Gasser judgment of the European Court of Justice. To this end, the Regulation introduces a priority mechanism in Article 31(2) in favour of the court designated in exclusive choice of court agreements. This article analyses, first, the problem, which the new priority mechanism in the Brussels Ibis Regulation intends to resolve. Second, it describes how the reforms in the Brussels Ibis Regulation address the practical issues raised by Gasser. In this regard, the relevance of the abuse of law doctrine in EU law will be discussed. Finally, the article considers the practical application of the new priority mechanism and in particular the standard of review the non-chosen court should adopt in applying Article 31(2) Brussels Ibis Regulation.