In the field of civil justice, pending procedures and proceedings initiated before the end of the transition period will continue under EU law. The e-Justice Portal, on the basis of a mutual agreement with the UK, will maintain the relevant information related to the United Kingdom until the end of 2024.

Mediation

England and Wales

Content provided by:
England and Wales

FINDING COMPETENT COURTS/AUTHORITIES

The search tool below will help you to identify court(s)/authority(ies) competent for a specific European legal instrument. Please note that although every effort has been made to ascertain the accuracy of the results, there may be some exceptional cases concerning the determination of competence that are not necessarily covered.

United Kingdom

England and Wales

Mediation


*mandatory input

Article 10 - Information on competent courts or authorities

If you wish to enforce in England and Wales the content of an EU cross-border mediation agreement that has not previously been declared enforceable in another EU Member State, you should make an application to do so according to the procedures as set out:

• If you are involved in existing proceedings in a court in England and Wales that relate to the mediated matter, you should make the application to that court;

• If you are not involved in existing proceedings in a court in England and Wales and the mediation concerns a civil and commercial matter (but excluding family matters), you should make the application to make the content of your mediation settlement agreement enforceable either to the High Court or to any one of the other courts listed below marked as dealing with ‘civil’ matters that would have jurisdiction over related proceedings, had proceedings (rather than mediation) been commenced. For example, you could apply to the court local to where one or more of the parties reside, or, where the mediated matter concerns land, the court for the district in which the land is situated;

• If you are not involved in existing proceedings in a court in England and Wales and the mediation concerns a family matter, you should make the application to a court marked as dealing with “Family” matters and which would have jurisdiction over related proceedings, had proceedings (rather than mediation) been commenced. As the question of court jurisdiction in family matters is highly specific to the disputes/content of the agreement, interested parties should direct their enquiries to the court local to where one or more of the parties reside. Alternatively, interested parties may want to seek legal advice on the appropriate court from a family lawyer in England and Wales;

If you wish to enforce in England and Wales the content of an EU cross-border mediation agreement that has previously been declared enforceable in another EU Member State, you should make an application to do so according to the procedures as set out:

In relation to civil and commercial (non family) matters, in Council Regulation (EC) No 1215/2012 of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (recast), and the application should be made in the High Court of Justice only;

In relation to family matters:

i. In the above-mentioned Council Regulation (EC) No 1215/2012 of 12 December 2012; and/or

ii. in Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility;

An up-to-date list of competent courts may be found at the following link: Court and Tribunal Finder

Last update: 12/04/2016

The national language version of this page is maintained by the respective Member State. The translations have been done by the European Commission service. Possible changes introduced in the original by the competent national authority may not be yet reflected in the translations. The European Commission accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to any information or data contained or referred to in this document. Please refer to the legal notice to see copyright rules for the Member State responsible for this page.