On January 12, 2021, the Amsterdam District Court declared itself incompetent with respect to all non-Dutch defendants in proceedings for compensation for damages based in part on an infringement of Article 101 TFEU. The proceedings had been initiated by four public utility companies from the Gulf States. The court rejected the plaintiffs’ reliance on Article 8(1) Brussels I Regulation and held that there was no sufficiently close connection between the claims against the Dutch defendants and those against the foreign defendants.
Article 8(1) Brussels I provides that defendants from other Member States (foreign defendants) have jurisdiction if there is such a close connection between the claims against the domestic defendants (known as the “anchor defendants”) and the foreign defendants that the proper administration of justice demands that they be heard and tried simultaneously. This will prevent incompatible decisions from being rendered when the cases are tried separately.
The Amsterdam Court made it clear that the mere fact that the Dutch “anchor defendants” are subsidiaries or group companies of foreign corporate defendants found guilty of an infringement of Article 101 TFEU is not sufficient to confer jurisdiction on the Dutch court over those foreign defendants.
Please contact Annelies ten Hove, ath@tenhoveadvocatuur.com for further information
