The European Union Choose Court Agreement System Research

The choice of court agreement regime is deemed as a proper way to solve theissue of jurisdiction conflict. Through the agreement between parties, this regimeprorogates jurisdiction over a civil or commercial matter upon certain courts orexcludes their jurisdiction. This regime has a deep root in history and after a long termdevelopment, this regime has been accepted by various countries。However, thisregime also has its drawbacks, especially in the protection of the weaker parties.Therefore, there should be certain restriction to this regime.In the progress of the unification of EU members, there are more connection incivil and commercial matters between the member states. And the jurisdictionconflicts between the countries had increased. To deal with this problem, the EUadopted the Brussels I Regulation. This Regulation stipulated the choice of courtagreement regime in Article23. To balance the interest of the parties, the Regulationalso made restriction to this regime in its application scope, its application in specificfields and exclusive jurisdiction. Meanwhile, this regulation also set up formalityrequirement for such agreements.Compared with the existing legislations, this regulation has advantageconcerning the regulation on choice of court agreements. This regulation focused onthe balance of the free will of the parties and the protection of the weaker parties.Based on the Brussels Convention, this Regulation has made progress in the field ofchoice of court agreement, which meets the requirement of the international trade andthe technology development. Such progress is accepted by the following internationalconventions and proved effective in practice.This regulation had been effective for over10years and EU is about to makemodification. However, the experts made no proposition in modify Article23of thisRegulation. The main modification in this aspect would reduce the restriction to thisregime and enhance the effect of this regime.