Cyprus Courts have the power to grant an interim injunction in aid of proceedings pending or contemplated in the courts of other member states according to Article 35 of EU Regulation 1215/12 which specifically provides that an “application may be made to the courts of a Member State for such provisional, including protective, measures as may be available under the law of that Member State, even if the courts of another Member State have jurisdiction as to the substance of the matter.”
The primary consideration of the Cyprus Courts before exercising the power conferred by Article 35 is whether there is a “real connecting link between the subject matter of the measures sought and the territorial jurisdiction” of the Cyprus Courts in the sense referred to in the case of Van Uden Maritime BV t/a Van Uden Africa Line v. Kommanditgesellschaft in Firma Deco-Line, C-391/95. It is only when this question is answered to the affirmative that the Courts of Member States have jurisdiction to grant interim relief pursuant to Article 35 in support of proceedings pending in another Member State.
The above principle has been adopted in several cases by the Cyprus Courts in which injunctions were granted in support of court proceedings pending or contemplated in other Member States, with the most common examples of cases being when (1) the defendant had assets in Cyprus or (2) when the defendant involved in the foreign proceedings was a resident of Cyprus or someone over whom the Cypriot Courts had in personam jurisdiction for some other reason and thus properly amenable to the enforcement jurisdiction of the Cypriot Courts. In the first situation above, the courts normally grant protective measures by way of a domestic freezing order over such assets whereas in the second situation they may even grant a worldwide freezing order applying of course the discretionary considerations laid down by the relevant case law.
Our Dispute Resolution team has over the past years acquired vast experience in both assisting clients as well as successfully representing them before the Cypriot Courts in aid of pending court proceedings instigated in other EU Member States. For further information and/or assistance, please contact us at info@pirilides.com.
