ARBITRATION WORLD ARBITRATION WORLD The Brussels Regulation (recast): Implications for Arbitration Sean Kelsey (London) European law on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters has recently undergone significant change. With a handful of exceptions, Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and Council (the “Brussels Regulation (recast)”, as it is generally known) will apply to all pro- ceedings commenced in any court of a Member State of the Euro- pean Union (“EU”) on or after 10 January 2015. As we have previ- ously reported here, the Brussels Regulation (recast) is intended to introduce a number of key changes to the rules on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments implemented under Council Regulation (EC) 44/2001 (the “Brussels Regulation”). Some of those changes are specifically intended to clarify aspects of those rules as they relate to arbitration, whilst others may prove in time to have some significance in arbitral contexts. THE BRUSSELS REGULATION (RECAST) AND THE ARBITRATION EXCEPTION Article 1(2)(d) of the Brussels Regulation expressly states that “This Regulation shall not apply to…arbitration”. Notwithstanding this so- called “arbitration exception”, key aspects of the Brussels Regulation have had a significant impact on arbitration. For example, as a result of the basic principle of mutual judicial trust and comity enshrined in the Brussels Regulation, the courts of a Member State must decline jurisdiction to deal with a dispute in cases where the courts of another are already seised of that dispute. In a ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“the “CJEU”) dated 10 February 2009 in the infamous West Tankers case (on which we have reported extensively in the past), it was held that the English court could not 51