EU backs global law pact which could partly plug UK legal gap

Flags of the European Union fly outside the Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

"It will enable EU citizens and businesses have rulings by courts in the EU recognized and enforced in non EU participating countries," a statement said Tuesday.

"It will ensure that judgments from third countries are recognized and enforced in EU only when fundamental principles of EU law have been respected."

The EU will be first to sign the Hague Convention. This Convention requires that another jurisdiction ratify it in order to enter into force.

Lawyers suggested that it should partially compensate Britain for being exempted by the bloc after Brexit, according to the Lugano treaty on cross border legal cooperation in Europe.

According to the EU, the Hague Convention should be the foundation for civil judicial cooperation with Britain in the future.

Elizabeth Williams, a partner in Simmons & Simmons, stated that "The EU's stated intention of acceding to the 2019 Hague Convention will be welcome news but it will not provide a full solution to the Lugano Convention gaps."

Williams stated that disputes involving antitrust, defamation and privacy are exempted.

The Hague Convention does not bar a party from starting proceedings in a slow-moving jurisdiction in order to stop proceedings in a court that has been designated by a contract.

Williams stated that "the risk of parallel proceedings will still exist, so practices such as races for judgment and forum-shopping are likely to resurface."

According to the City of London Law Society, re-entry into Lugano would be preferable over the Hague Convention.

"Nevertheless, it offers a possible partial solution to enforcement and would certainly beat no solution at all." It encouraged the UK government to speed up its deliberations about accession.