Allianz SpA v West Tankers

Allianz SpA v West Tankers is a preliminary ruling (case C-185/07) by the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union upon a reference for a preliminary ruling from the United Kingdom's House of Lords. The case arose because in August 2000 the Front Comor, a vessel owned by West Tankers and chartered by Erg Petroli SpA (‘Erg’), collided in Syracuse (Italy) with a jetty also owned by Erg, causing damage to the jetty.

In its judgment issued on 10 February 2009, the court held that the validity of arbitration agreements falls within the scope of the Brussels Regulation, but that anti-suit injunctions restraining a party from commencing or continuing processes in the court of a Brussels Regulation member state cannot be granted.

In other words, the law of the Brussels Regulation does not allow a member state's court to give an order to restrain a person from commencing or continuing proceedings (a so-called anti-suit injunction) before the court of another member state on the ground that such proceedings would be contrary to the arbitration agreement. Member states must have mutual trust in one another and allowing anti-suit injunctions would undermine the effectiveness of the Regulation. However, a national court could grant an anti-suit injunction where the foreign proceedings were not in a Brussels Regulation state.