In a communication this week to the European Parliament and the Council, the Commission wrote that it ‘considers that the EU should not give its consent’ to UK accession. Its analysis included that current contracting parties all participate in the EU’s internal market and the convention supports the EU’s relationship with third countries which have ‘a particularly close regulatory integration with the EU’. It described the UK as ‘a third country without a special link to the internal market’.
The UK was a member of Lugano prior to Brexit and throughout the 11-month transition period.
David Greene, senior partner at Edwin Coe, said: ‘The Commission is not the final arbiter of the UK’s accession to Lugano.
‘This is for the Council and individual nations. This is a significant setback but not unexpected. The losers are consumers and SMEs in the EU and UK who are left with uncertainty on dispute resolution. We hope that a majority on the Council will see the good sense for all concerned of having a common system for Europe.’
The treaty, which applies to EU and European Free Trade Area states but is also available to other states, regulates both international jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in civil and commercial matters.
Law Society president I Stephanie Boyce said: ‘Lugano makes litigation more accessible whether you are an employee with a grievance, a consumer let down by a goods or service provider, or a parent trying to enforce a maintenance order. It provides protection where one of the parties is deemed to be in a weaker position than the other: there are special regimes for employment, insurance and consumer contracts, maintenance orders.’
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