Abstract
LL.M. (International Commercial Law)
This essay seeks to look at the role of express submission to jurisdictjon under the
Brussels I Regulation,lthe Brussels I (recast) Regulation2 and the Hague Convention on
Choice of Court Agreements.3 The express submission to jurisdiction under the three
instruments mentioned in the previous sentence refers to the situation in which parties to
an international commercial contract include in their contract a court of their choice to
govern any disputes that may arise between them. This designated court may or may not
be situated in a country that is a member of the three instruments mentioned above. The
purpose of this thesis is to determine what will occur when the court chosen is from a
country that is not a member of either of the three instruments mentioned.
We will first look at express submission and the role it plays in determining which court
has jurisdiction. This section on express submission will provide the definition of express
submission in the context of a contract which incorporates a choice-of-forum agreement
between the parties who are engaged in an international commercial transaction. The
thesis will view the role of submission in a common-law and civil-law country in light of
express submission by contract. Finally, a distinction will be made between an exclusive
and non-exclusive jurisdiction clause. A brief discussion ofthe Brussels Convention4 (The
Convention) will be provided in order to present the fact that the Convention only applies
when a choice-of-forum agreement in a contract has assoned thejurisdiction to a court of
a country which is a member of the Convention. The Convention would not apply when a
choice-of-forum agreement in a contract has assigned jurisdiction to the court of a country
which is not a member to the Convention. ln order to determine whether the position has
changed since the enactment of the Brussels I Regulation (Regulation) with regard to
choice-of-forum agreements that designate jurisdiction to the court of a country in a nonmember
state of the Regulation, provisions relating to express submission clauses will be
discussed. A further discussion will be provided to ascertain whether the enactment of the
Council Regulation (EC) No 4412001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and
enforcement ofjudgments in civil and commercial matters.