The final deal Britain strikes with the EU should not be subject to the direct jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (CJEU), the Law Society has warned.
Instead, the Law Society has urged the government to create a bespoke, UK-based mechanism for individuals and organisations to resolve disputes relating to the deal. In its paper, ‘Brexit: Options for a future UK-EU Dispute Settlement Mechanism’, published this week, the Law Society suggests that the new mechanism be modelled on the CJEU or the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) Court preliminary ruling system.
‘At the moment disputes are handled by the CJEU and, as an EU member, we’ve had judges sitting in that court and UK lawyers representing clients,’ said Law Society president Joe Egan.
‘The jurisdiction will remain during any transition. However, once we leave we think the CJEU should be denied direct jurisdiction over the new agreement because the UK will no longer have full participation in the court.’
The UK currently has three ECJ judges and an advocate general.
