CYPRUS: AN ANTISUIT INJUNCTION ISSUED BY AN ARBITRAL TRIBUNAL DOES NOT VIOLATE THE EU REGULATION 44/2001 (which has been replaced by EU Reg. 1215/12).

In its judgment in Gazprom case, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) held inter alia that an antisuit injunction issued by an arbitral tribunal prohibiting a party from bringing certain claims before a court of a Member State, is not covered by the EU Regulation 44/2001 -(i.e. which is now replaced by EU Regulation 1215/2012)- and it’s up to the national courts of each Member State, whether such an award may be recognized and enforced under its own national laws and the New York Convention. An injunction issued by a court of Member State requiring a party to arbitration proceedings not to continue proceedings before a court of another Member State is contrary to the general principle, which emerges from the case law of the ECJ that every Member State court seized itself determines, under the applicable rules, whether it has jurisdiction to resolve the dispute before it (see decision of ECJ in CASE ALLIANZ AND GENERAL ASSICURAZIONI GENERALI).

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