Has Florida Become an Attractive Seat for International Arbitration? The Adoption of the ICAA

1. Introduction:

In today’s ever-globalizing world, it has become increasingly important for jurisdictions to promote commerce with foreign parties.  One manner in which jurisdictions can encourage international business is to modernize their international commercial arbitration statutes.  The UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (the Model Law) is designed “to assist States in reforming and modernizing their laws on arbitral procedure.”[1]  The United States has not adopted the Model Law on the federal level, and its main source of arbitration law is the Federal Arbitration Act (the FAA).[2]  While federal law is one source of U.S. arbitration law, there are several situations in which state law can complement or supplement the FAA,[3] and can fill in procedural gaps that are not directly addressed under the FAA.[4]  As such, in 2010, Florida adopted the International Commercial Arbitration Act; by adopting this act, Florida has become one of eight U.S. states to enact the Model Law in order to promote international arbitration and international business within its state boundaries.[5]  More recently, in June of 2013, Florida further attempted to attract international business by clarifying ambiguities in its International Commercial Arbitration Act.[6]

2. The Federal Arbitration Act:

Prior to 1925, there was no federal statutory law on arbitration.[7]  The FAA was enacted by Congress in 1925, and then codified in 1947.  When the FAA was adopted in 1925, U.S. courts held a negative attitude towards arbitration.[8]  Congress’ main goal in enacting the FAA was to “…overrule this hostility towards arbitration and to ensure judicial enforcement of arbitration agreements.”[9]  The FAA explicitly states that an agreement to arbitrate “an existing controversy arising out of such a contract, transaction, or refusal, shall be valid, irrevocable, and enforceable….”[10]  Courts have generally held that the FAA only pre-empts state law that conflicts with the intent of promoting arbitration.[11]

Some critics argue that the FAA is not a comprehensive international arbitration statute when compared to the Model Law.  Attorney Daniel Kolkey is one such critic of the FAA.  Kolkey states that “[t]he FAA addresses too few subjects of international concern, leaves too many issues unresolved, and shares far too much jurisdiction with an increasingly diverse set of state arbitration laws for foreign parties to enthusiastically choose it for arbitrating international commercial disputes.”[12]  For example, there are several subjects not addressed by the FAA, such as “…challenging the arbitrators, provisional relief, selecting an arbitral situs, the conduct of arbitral proceedings, and choice of law.”[13]  Accordingly, “…gaps in the FAA leave room for the enactment of state laws governing interstate and international arbitrations.”[14]  Kolkey further states that “[p]roblems concerning the relationship between federal and state law are compounded by the enactment of different state statutes governing, or at least applying to, international arbitrations.”[15]  Thus, this divergence among state statutes means that there is no uniform law governing international commercial arbitration in the United States.[16]  There is now a clear trend among states to adopt the more internationally uniform UNCITRAL Model Law, in order to complement or supplement the FAA, and fill in procedural gaps that are not directly addressed under the FAA.

3. State Law Regarding International Commercial Arbitration:  

According to commentator Daniel A. Zeft, there are several situations in which state international arbitration law may complement or supplement the FAA in an arbitral proceeding.  The first situation is when a state court action is brought pursuant to a state international arbitration statute, regarding an arbitration agreement or award that is within the scope of Chapter 1 or 2 of the FAA; in this scenario, the provisions of the state international arbitration statute may apply only if they do not conflict with the corresponding provisions in the FAA.[17]  In Volt Info. Scis., Inc. v. Bd. of Trs. of Leland Stanford Junior Univ., the United States Supreme Court held that “…state law may nonetheless be pre-empted to the extent that it actually conflicts with federal law-that is, to the extent that it ‘stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.’”[18]  Zeft claims that federal pre-emption of state international commercial arbitration law is not significant because “…few provisions contained in the state international arbitration statutes examined conflict directly with provisions in [C]hapter 1 or 2 of the FAA, or frustrate the purposes and policies of the FAA or the New York Convention.”[19]  Furthermore, according to the Supreme Court in Volt, “[t]he FAA contains no express pre-emptive provision, nor does it reflect a congressional intent to occupy the entire field of arbitration.”[20]  Adoption of the UNCITRAL Model Law by states has been said to improve state laws and create a climate favorable towards arbitration.[21]  Thus, the UNCITRAL Model Law’s goal is in line with the FAA’s goal of promoting international commercial arbitration, and the FAA will likely not pre-empt the Florida International Commercial Arbitration Act in this first situation.[22]

The second situation in which a state international arbitration statute may apply is when an arbitration agreement falls within the scope of a state international arbitration statute, but is outside the scope of Chapter 1 of the FAA.  According to Zeft, in this scenario, “the FAA’s [C]hapter 1 cannot pre-empt the pertinent state statutory provisions.”[23]

Thirdly, state law that is inconsistent with the FAA may even apply to international arbitrations when the parties have expressly agreed upon the application of state law to the arbitration.[24]  In Volt, the parties chose to arbitrate in accordance with California law.[25]  The court held that while the FAA is fully applicable in state court proceedings, it does not prevent the application of California law “where, as here, the parties have agreed to arbitrate in accordance with California law.[26]  Accordingly, “[w]hen Volt is cited as precedent on the issue of pre-emption, it is much more likely that state arbitration law will play some role in the arbitration process.”[27]  More recently, the court clarified the Volt holding in Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., suggesting “…that state arbitration law inconsistent with the FAA may only apply to an arbitration if the parties include in their contract a choice of law clause that expressly selects such state law over federal law.”[28]  Some commentators stated that the FAA is simply a set of default rules that apply when the parties have not selected an alternative mechanism.[29]  The coexistence of the FAA and different state international arbitration statutes offers maximum party autonomy, with “choices among varied legal frameworks supportive of the international arbitral process.”[30]  

Various U.S. states have adopted international arbitration statutes in order make their jurisdictions more attractive forums for conducting international commercial arbitrations.[31]  This means that both the seat of arbitration and state law are relevant in United States’ arbitration proceedings.  The seat of arbitration remains an important choice for parties in international commercial arbitration due to variation among state and national arbitration law.[32]  As such, it is beneficial to a U.S. state (such as Florida) to adopt the UNCITRAL Model Law in order to promote international commercial arbitration within its jurisdiction.

4. The Florida International Commercial Arbitration Act:

Florida has become a center for international business and a popular arbitral seat for international arbitrations involving Latin American parties.  According to Miami international arbitration attorney Pedro Julio Martinez-Fraga, “it does appear that Miami is considered and selected more frequently as a seat of arbitration.”[33]  Historically, Floridian courts were antagonistic towards international arbitration.  However, since 1986, Florida has been actively modernizing its arbitration law.  First, in 1986, Florida adopted the International Arbitration Act.  Second, effective on July 1, 2010, Florida enacted the UNCITRAL Model Law through the Florida International Commercial Arbitration Act (ICAA); the ICAA “…is a detailed statute granting wide-ranging powers to arbitral tribunals.”[34]  Finally, in June of 2013, the Florida Legislature adopted the “Glitch Fix Bill,” in order to clarify ambiguities in the 2010 International Commercial Arbitration Act.[35]

According to Florida Senator Dan Gelber, the passage of the ICAA “…will send a strong message to international businesses that Florida is the right place to settle their business disputes. By providing a reliable framework, more businesses will come here to use our professional services, stay in our hotels and make Florida their destination.”[36]  Commentators have stated that this act will have a huge impact on the Florida economy, because international arbitrations involve large dispute amounts and generate a need for ancillary services such as lawyers, translators, court reporters, accountants, and investigative services.[37]  If an agreement falls under the scope of the ICAA,[38] then the ICAA may be chosen as the applicable law in lieu of the FAA, which ordinarily applies to a transaction involving interstate commerce.[39]  According to Martinez-Fraga, “the Florida act is most relevant not as a comprehensive legislative scheme, but rather when it fills in procedural gaps that are not directly addressed under the FAA.”[40]

Florida has further attempted to attract international business by passing the “Glitch Fix Bill” in June of 2013.  This bill made minor changes to the Florida International Commercial Arbitration Act, with the goal of “enhance[ing] the business climate in Florida by streamlining legislation related to international law matters in order to increase Florida’s attractiveness as a business friendly state.”[41]  This bill broadened §684.0002 regarding the scope of application by adding an “or” to the definition of an international arbitration.  The bill also made minor changes to the wording of §684.0019 and §684.0026.  Finally, the bill added §684.0049 regarding consent to jurisdiction in Florida.[42]

5. Conclusion:

Jurisdictions around the world are increasingly adopting laws favoring and unifying international arbitration law; this trend has led some commentators to conclude that the seat of arbitration is diminishing in significance.[43]  However, other commentators have stated that as long as there is no supranational international arbitration law, then “[t]he choice of a particular arbitral seat over another one can still have implications for parties and the conduct of the arbitration and should therefore be given due consideration.”[44]  There is no uniform law governing international commercial arbitration in the United States, and there are several situations in which state law can complement or supplement the FAA, and fill in procedural gaps that are not directly addressed under the FAA.[45]  Thus, Florida and several other internationally conscious state legislatures have taken it upon themselves to encourage international commercial arbitration within their jurisdictions, by adopting the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration.

 

Cameron Weil

Cameron Weil is a Class of 2014 LL.M. student at New York University School of Law in the International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration program, and received his J.D. cum laude from Brooklyn Law School.  In addition, he is a Graduate Editor on the NYU Journal of Law & Business.  Cameron is admitted to the New York State Bar, and his admission to the Florida Bar is currently pending.

 


[2] White & Case LLP, Understanding US Arbitration Law, Practical Law Company.

[3] Daniel A. Zeft, The Applicability of State International Arbitration Statutes and the Absence of Significant Preemption Concerns, 22 N.C. J. Int’l L. & Com. Reg. 705, 793 (1997).

[4] Email from Pedro Julio Martinez Fraga, Adjunct Professor of Law at NYU School of Law (Dec. 10, 2013).

[5] Sébastien Besson, The Utility of State Laws Regulating International Commercial Arbitration and Their Compatibility with the FAA, 11 Am. Rev. Int’l Arb. 211 (2000).

[6] International Commercial Arbitration “Glitch Fix Bill” Signed By Governor Scott Last Week, The Florida Bar International Law Section (June 24, 2013), http://internationallawsection.org/glitch-fix-passes-florida-legislature/.

[7] Edward Brunet et al., Arbitration Law in America: A Critical Assessment 36 (2006).

[8] Id.

[9] Besson, supra note 5, at 212.

[10] Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C.A. § 2 (West).

[11] Id.

[12] Daniel M. Kolkey, It’s Time to Adopt the Uncitral Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration, 8 Transnat’l L. & Contemp. Probs. 3, 4 (1998).

[13] Besson, supra note 5, at 219.

[14] Kolkey, supra note 12, at 6.

[15] Id. at 13.

[16] Id.

[17] Zeft, supra note 3, at 721 (1997).

[18] Volt Info. Scis., Inc. v. Bd. of Trs. of Leland Stanford Junior Univ., 489 U.S. 468, 477 (1989) (quoting Hines v. Davidowitz, 312 U.S. 52, 67 (1941)) (hereinafter Volt).

[19] One of the state statutes that Zeft examined was California; at the time of this article, the California statute was largely based on the UNCITRAL Model Law, Zeft, supra note 3, at 737.

[20] Volt, 489 U.S. 468, 477 (1989).

[21] Besson, supra note 5, at 244.

[22] Id.

[23] Zeft, supra note 3, at 727.

[24] White & Case LLP, supra note 2.

[25] Volt, 489 U.S. 468, 477 (1989).

[26] Id.

[27] Patrick O’Conner & Philip Bruner, Brunner & O’Conner on Construction Law, § 21:29.

[28] Zeft, supra note 3, at 785.

[29] Brunet et al., supra note 7, at 64; Mastrobuono v. Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc., 514 U.S. 52 (1995).

[30] Zeft, supra note 3, at 794.

[31] Kolkey, supra note 12, at 1.

[32] Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, How significant is the seat in international arbitration?, Practice Law Company.

[33] Pedro Julio Martinez-Fraga, supra note 4.

[34] White & Case LLP, Choosing an Arbitral Seat in the US, Practical Law Company.

[35] International Commercial Arbitration “Glitch Fix Bill” Signed By Governor Scott Last Week, supra note 6.

[36] Ella Phillips, Thurston and Gleber pass the Florida International Commercial Arbitration Act, Westside Gazette, May 5, 2010.

[37] Id.

[38] The scope of the ICAA applies to international agreements in three situations: “(a) The parties to an arbitration agreement have, at the time of the conclusion of that agreement, their places of business in different countries; or (b) One of the following places is situated outside the country in which the parties have their places of business: 1. The place of arbitration if determined in, or pursuant to, the arbitration agreement; or 2. Any place where a substantial part of the obligations of the commercial relationship are to be performed or the place with which the subject matter of the dispute is most closely connected; or (c) The parties have expressly agreed that the subject matter of the arbitration agreement relates to more than one country.” Fla. Stat. Ann. § 684.0002 (West).

[39] Larry R. Leiby, Florida Construction Law Manual, available at 8 Fla. Prac., Constr. Law Manual § 19:9 (2013-2014 ed.).

[40] Pedro Julio Martinez-Fraga, supra note 4.

[41] International Commercial Arbitration “Glitch Fix Bill” Signed By Governor Scott Last Week, supra note 6.

[42] ACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS—ARBITRATION AND AWARD—JURISDICTION, 2013 Fla. Sess. Law Serv. Ch. 2013-164 (C.S.S.B. 186) (WEST).

[43] Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, supra note 32.

[44] Id.

[45] Pedro Julio Martinez-Fraga, supra note 4.

 

April 2014 Arbitration Forum: The Scope of Consent in International Commercial Arbitration

This is to announce the April 2014 session of the Arbitration Forum of the Center for Transnational Litigation, Arbitration and Commercial Law, entitled “The Scope of Consent in International Commercial Arbitration.” The event will take place on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014, from 6.00 – 8.00 pm, in the Lester Pollack Colloquium Room, Furman Hall 900 (245 Sullivan Street, New York, NY 10012).

The event will be moderated by the center’s Executive Director, Prof. Franco Ferrari. Our distinguished speakers include Mr. David St. John Sutton,  Barrister (England & Wales), Avocat à la Cour de Paris, formerly Solicitor (England & Wales), and Solicitor (Hong Kong), Mr. John Fellas, partner in the New York office of Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP, and co-chair of the Arbitration Practice and co-chair of the International Practice of that firm and Mr. Pedro J. Martinez-Fraga, partner in Bryan Cave LLP’s international arbitration and litigation practice, co-leader of the firm’s International Dispute Resolution Practice Group globally and co-founder of the Miami office.

Since seating is limited, please rsvp by April 21st, 2014, by sending an email to cassy.rodriguez@nyu.edu.

Please note that the Chatham House rule applies.

‘Browsing’ the jurisdiction of a foreign court

 A recent Irish High Court decision involving the Terms of Use of the Ryanair website (an international airline) has held that a party may enter into a binding jurisdiction clause by simply browsing a website, possibly without realizing that they have entered into such an agreement. Such ‘click wrap’ or ‘browse wrap’ agreements are increasingly common in the era of e-commerce, and most large scale commercial websites contain similar fine print underlying their websites’ use. In determining that a party can enter into a jurisdiction clause agreement by browsing and using another’s website in certain circumstances, the Irish High Court relied exclusively on the provisions of the Brussels I Regulation (Article 23) which provides for party autonomy in choosing the forum that is to resolve the dispute. This short post attempts to highlight the significance of this Irish High Court decision, and how the decision has provided further guidance as to the interpretation of Article 23 of the Brussels I Regulation in its application to more modern methods of contracting.

Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001[1] (more commonly known as “Brussels I Regulation”) was introduced to provide certainty and predictability on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. It came into force in 2002, replacing the Brussels Convention which had preceded it. The Brussels I Regulation provides a set of rules that apply to most European Union member states and which aim to ensure that no matter where court proceedings are first instituted, the application of these rules will always point to the state that is to have exclusive jurisdiction over the dispute.

Article 23 of the Brussels I Regulation sets out rules relating to prorogation of jurisdiction. These rules provide that parties to a contract may agree that a particular court of a Member State is to have jurisdiction in settling any disputes that have arisen or may arise in connection with the parties’ contract. This means that parties to an international contract, concluded over the Internet, may choose a particular Member State to have jurisdiction over their legal relationship should either party later wish to resort to litigation.

Such a dispute arose in the Irish High Court case of Ryanair Limited v. On the Beach Limited.[2] Ryanair was arguing that the defendant, On the Beach Limited, an online travel agency based in England, had contravened the “Terms of Use of Ryanair’s Website” by allegedly “screen scraping” data from Ryanair’s website. Screen scraping is a computer software technique for extracting information from websites through the creation of an automated tool which interrogates the operator’s website. Such improper data extraction was a breach of Clause 3 of the Terms of Use which prohibits the “use of any automated system or software to extract data from [the] website…for commercial purposes”. Ryanair’s claims against the defendant included breach of contract, misrepresentation, passing off, infringement of registered trademarks and infringement of Ryanair’s database rights.

Before the High Court was able to begin determining the merits of the substantive issue in the case, the defendant argued that the Irish courts did not have jurisdiction in this matter, and that in accordance with Article 2 of the Brussels I Regulation which states that “persons domiciled in a Member State shall, whatever their nationality, be sued in the courts of that Member State”, the defendant should be sued in the English courts. However, the Terms of Use of Ryanair’s website contained a clause providing that “it is a condition precedent to the use of the plaintiff’s website…that any such party submits to the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of the Republic of Ireland and to the application of the law in that jurisdiction”. It further provided that this applies to any party accessing such information or facilities on their own behalf or on behalf of others. These Terms of Use could be accepted by a party in two possible ways: clicking a box agreeing to the Terms of Use (click wrap agreement), or by actually using the Ryanair website where these Terms of Use were available by hyperlink on each page of the website (browse wrap agreement).

The defendant attempted to argue that there was no contract between itself and Ryanair as the defendant was only acting as agent for the ultimate consumer who was purchasing the flights. It was on this basis that the defendant attempted to argue that in the absence of a contract in accordance with the Terms of Use of Ryanair’s Website, there could be no choice of jurisdiction agreement as contained in that challenged contract. The Court was quick to dismiss this argument, relying exclusively on the test laid down by the European Court of Justice in Benincasa v. Dentalkit Srl.[3] Here, the European Court of Justice held that the Brussels I Regulation serves a procedural purpose, and that the legal certainty that the Brussels I Regulation seeks to secure could easily be jeopardized if one party to the contract could frustrate that rule of forum selection by arguing that the whole of the contract is void on grounds derived from the applicable substantive law. It is therefore the case that a jurisdiction clause may still be valid, even if one of the parties is challenging the very existence of the contract in which the jurisdiction clause is contained. This point also illustrates how any person could become bound by the jurisdiction clause simply by using the Ryanair website, without having to purchase flights or enter into any other contract.

 In determining whether the jurisdiction clause, viewed separately from the contract as a whole, is valid and enforceable, the High Court looks to the provisions of Article 23 of Brussels I Regulation providing for prorogation of jurisdiction. Of most relevance is Article 23(1)(c) which provides that an agreement conferring jurisdiction shall be valid if it is “in international trade or commerce, in a form which accords with a usage of which the parties are or ought to have been aware and which in such trade or commerce is widely known to, and regularly observed by, parties to contracts of the type involved in the particular trade or commerce concerned”. The Court relies on the European Court of Justice case of Mainschiffahrts-Genossenschaft eG (MSG) v. Les Gravieres Rhénanes SARL[4] which provided that Article 23(1)(c) encompasses three hurdles that must be overcome in order for the choice of forum clause to be valid and binding.

The first requirement is that the contract in question comes under the head of international trade or commerce. The High Court found this to have been easily met as both plaintiff and defendant are in the business of selling internationally and it was in this context that the defendant utilized and interacted with the Ryanair website. The second requirement provides that there is a practice in the branch of international trade or commerce in which the parties are operating.  This is where the Irish High Court interpreted the reach of the law as extending into the digital age of international online commerce. The Court found that the practice of binding parties to a website’s terms of use through either click wrap or browse wrap agreements was increasingly common in the airline and online travel agency sectors. The Court even noted that it is difficult to see how online trade could be conducted without these devices. It is the online travel agency’s business to scour the Internet and search for the best deals for its customers. The defendant’s own website, like those of most airlines, contains legal notices, waivers and disclaimers which are available through hyperlinks and other click the box icons. Furthermore, many airline companies (British Airways, United Airlines, Air France) contain jurisdiction selection clauses in their terms of use which they bind users of their websites to through either a click wrap or browse wrap agreement. The Court had no hesitation in finding that this evidence proved the existence of such a widely used practice in the online travel industry.

The third requirement provides that if there is found to be a practice of using these click wrap or browse wrap agreements in the branch of trade that the parties are operating in, the parties must have been aware or may be presumed to have been aware of that practice. The European Court of Justice in MSG noted that this requirement includes practices of which the parties ought to have been aware.[5] This presumptive or implicit awareness can be shown by the parties previously having had business relations between themselves, or with other parties in the sector in question, or such practice is generally and regularly followed when a certain type of contract is concluded, with the result that it may be considered as being a consolidated practice. The High Court determined that the defendant was aware of the practice, as it was generally and regularly followed when making bookings with online travel agents and with airlines, and that it may be considered a consolidated practice. This final point illustrates how the defendant was not actually required to have clicked on Ryanair’s Terms of Use to become bound by them, but that constructive knowledge would suffice. This application of Article 23(1)(c) certainly accords with modern business practice, where it is rare that a party will closely examine a website’s terms of use or legal notices, particularly where they do not believe that they may be contractually bound by such terms in the absence of entering into a contract. A party should not be able to argue that the website’s terms of use do not apply, simply because that party neglected to read them or willfully ignored them.

By enforcing the terms and conditions contained in a click wrap or browse wrap agreement, the Irish High Court has allowed the Brussels I Regulation to be construed and understood in a modern light, where a large amount of our daily commerce is conducted through novel methods of communication. Forum selection clauses contained in click wrap and browse wrap agreements deserve exactly the same protection and level of enforcement as any other clauses that would be included in a written contract. Justice Punnett in the Canadian Supreme Court of British Columbia noted that “The evolution of the Internet as an ‘open’ medium with its ability to hyperlink, being key to its success, does not mean that it must function free of traditional contract law. It is simply the manner of contracting that has changed, not the law of contract.”[6] The form that a jurisdiction selection clause takes is unimportant, as long as the same core components stipulated in Article 23(1) are met. Companies conducting much of their business online, with parties all over the world, and possibly entering hundreds of contracts a day, require certainty. That is why such clauses are entered into contracts, and that is why the Brussels I Regulation gives these clauses protection, regardless of the country in which proceedings are first instituted.

Ryanair’s intellectual property, including the mass amounts of data they create and store, can be accessed from anywhere in the world. However, the difficulty that Ryanair would have in protecting that information in jurisdictions with differing and often conflicting laws could be potentially harmful to the growth and encouragement of international trade and commerce. A jurisdiction selection clause that meets the requirements set down in Article 23(1) should be legally valid regardless of the mode of its acceptance or the form in which it was presented. What this High Court decision tells us is that courts are going to be increasingly innovative in their application of the Brussels I Regulation, regardless of whether or not the method used to create such an agreement was in existence at the time the Regulation or the Convention was implemented. A party that engages in international online commerce cannot always expect the protection of their own law, just because they do not physically leave their own jurisdiction. This Irish High Court case illustrates how the Brussels I Regulation is just as effective in ensuring party autonomy and uniformity of result in 2013, as it was when the Convention first came into force.

Daragh Brehony

The author is a Class of 2014 LL.M. student in the International Business Regulation, Litigation and Arbitration program at the New York University School of Law. He obtained his Bachelor in Civil Law degree at University College Dublin, Ireland in 2012, after which he completed the Barrister-at-Law Degree at the Honorable Society of King’s Inns and was called to the Irish Bar in 2013.

 



[1] Council Regulation 44/2001 O.J. (L 12).

[2] Ryanair Limited v. On the Beach Limited, [2013] I.E.H.C. 124.

[3] Case C-269/95, Benincasa v. Dentalkit Slr, [1997] E.C.R. I-3790.

[4] Case C-105/95, Mainschiffahrts-Genossenschaft eG v. Les Gravieres Rhenanes SARL, [1997] E.C.R. I-932.

[5] Id. at para. 19.

[6] Century 21 Canada v. Rogers Communications, [2011] B.C.S.C. 1196 at para. 114.