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Gazprom Decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union
on Anti-Suit Injunctions
*
Att. Ezgi Babur
Anti-suit injunctions are issued by national courts or arbitral tri-
bunals, used especially in common law jurisdictions, in order to pro-
tect the jurisdiction of arbitral tribunals, or to prevent the tribunal from
assuming jurisdiction. The general explanations on anti-suit injunc-
tions are analyzed in our Newsletter article published in February
1
.
With regard to anti-suit injunctions, the Court of Justice of the
European Union (“CJEU”) rendered a decision on May 13
th
, 2015, in
case numbered C-536/13. The case concerned the questions addressed
to the CJEU by the Lithuanian Supreme Court that arose in a lawsuit
between Gazprom OAO (“Gazprom”) and the Republic of Lithuania,
with respect to the enforcement of anti-suit injunctions issued by arbi-
tral tribunals. The Gazprom decision of the CJEU is analyzed in this
article.
Legal Background
The recognition and enforcement of anti-suit injunctions has
always been an issue of debate. Anti-suit injunctions may be consid-
ered as an infringement of the mutual trust principle within the
European Union, when filed by the court of a member state, concern-
ing the proceedings to be initiated in another member state.
In 2009, the CJEU, in its West Tankers decision, ruled that anti-suit
injunctions issued by courts of member states, which deprive the courts
of another member state of the ability to rule in their own jurisdiction,
216
NEWSLETTER 2015
*
Article of May 2015
1
Please see Anti-Suit Injunctions in International Arbitrations, in our February 2015 Newsletter.
Link:
http://www.erdem-erdem.com/en/articles/anti-suit-injunctions-in-international-arbitra-tion/.