Arbitration and intra-EU member state judicial enforcement in view of the CJEU Prestige judgment

Two decades ago, in November 2002, the sinking oil tanker Prestige caused significant environmental damage to the Spanish and French shores.¹¹ ITOPF Promoting Effective Spilling Response, Prestige. Spain/France.2002. (13 November 2002) https://www.itopf.org/in-action/case-studies/prestige-spain-france-2002/ [Accessed 02.03.2023]; The Guardian, Oil Tanker sinks off Spanish coast. (19 November 2002) (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2002/nov/19/spain.world ) [Accessed 12.01.2023]. On 20 June 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) constituted as Grand Chamber has rendered a judgment in the proceedings between London Stream-Ship Owners’ Mutual Association Ltd (‘the London P&I Club’) and the Kingdom of Spain²²Judgment on 22 July 2022, M/T Prestige, C-700/20 , ECLI:EU:C:2022:488., stirring up debate within the European arbitration community. Arbitration is generally excluded from the scope of many European instruments for international judicial cooperation.³³ Pimenta A. and Rosende C. CJEU judgment on the Prestige oil tanker sets new guidelines on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. Garrigues Commentaries. (7 July 2022) (https://www.garrigues.com/en_GB/new/cjeu-judgment-prestige-oil-tanker-sets-new-guidelines-recognition-and-enforcement-foreign ) [Accessed 22.12.2022]; see also Judgment on 17 November 1998, Van Uden Maritime, C-391/95 , ECLI:EU:C:1998:543; see also Judgment on 10 February 2009 as Grand Chamber, West Tankers, C-185/07 , ECLI:EU:C:2009:69; see also Judgment on 13 Mai 2015, Gazprom, C-536/13 , ECLI:EU:C:2015:316. Hence an array of questions arise at the intersection of national courts and arbitration. The Prestige case can serve as a framework within which the different legal issues are developed further.