In the Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER II) the Member States confirmed on February 5 the political agreement reached by the Greek EU Council Presidency in negotiations with the European Parliament on a Proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.

The preliminary agreement by the Greek Presidency and the European Parliament was achieved during the final trilogue on 29 January. The Regulation can be adopted at first reading after the formal voting in the European Parliament and in the Council.

The amended Regulation No 1215/2012 clarifies the operation of the rules on jurisdiction with respect to the Unified Patent Court and the Benelux Court of Justice. In addition, it defines the application of the rules on recognition and enforcement in the relations between Member States which are and Member States which are not Contracting Parties to the respective international agreements. Finally, the Regulation addresses the lack of common jurisdiction rules vis-à-vis defendants in non-European Union States.

“Today, the EU took a step forward in implementing the new EU patent law and the rules on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of the respective judgments by amending Regulation ‘Brussels I’. This contributes to paving the way for the new Unified Patent Court to begin its work. The Greek Presidency would like to express its gratitude to the European Commission and the European Parliament for their cooperation in achieving such an important result in such a short time”, stressed Minister of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights, Charalampos Athanasiou.

Background:
The Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012, known as "Brussels I Regulation (recast)", sets out rules determining the international jurisdiction of the courts of the Member States and prevents parallel proceedings before the courts of different Member States. The Regulation also lays down rules for the recognition and enforcement of judgments of national courts in other Member States and covers, among other matters, litigation in the area of intellectual property rights, including patents. Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 will enter into force on 10 January 2015. 
In December 2012, an agreement was reached on the so-called “patent package” – a legislative initiative consisting of two Regulations (the "Unified Patent Regulations") and an international Agreement (the "Unified Patent Court Agreement" or "UPC Agreement"), laying the foundations for the creation of unitary patent protection in the EU. The Unified Patent Court will have exclusive competence, thus replacing national courts, for the matters governed by the UPC Agreement.

Two months earlier, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, the three Member States Contracting Parties to the Treaty of 31 March 1965, signed a Protocol modifying the Treaty. The 1965 Treaty created the Benelux Court of Justice with the task to ensure the uniform application of rules common to the Benelux Member States concerning various matters, such as intellectual property. The Protocol extends the competences of the Benelux Court of Justice to include jurisdictional competences in specific matters which come within the scope of the Brussels I Regulation.

Both the UPC Agreement and the Protocol to the Benelux Treaty of 1965 cannot enter into force prior to the entry into force of the amendments to the Brussels I Regulation (recast) regulating the relationship between the respective instruments.