This article was originally published on Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly and is republished with permission.

In the latest of our series, which is annually published in the Lloyds Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly Yearbook, Andrew Tetley and Antoine Guillemot have collated and reported on developments in French shipping law.

Sea carriers can be sued by consignees in French courts despite English jurisdiction clauses in their bills of lading 

In a judgment dated 14 December 2022 (No. 20-17.768), the French Supreme Court set out the legal regime under which consignees can sue foreign carriers in a French court despite the bill of lading containing a clause granting jurisdiction to a non-EU court.

In brief, the Supreme Court held that sea carriers can enforce clauses in bills of lading granting jurisdiction to a court outside the EU only if (i) the consignee has “specially accepted” them and (ii) they are formally readable.

The Supreme Court held that “special acceptance” cannot be found in the existence of any customary practices, previous business relations, or clauses referring to general conditions.

In the post-Brexit context that now exists, and contrary to the more favourable position for sea-carriers that applied pre-Brexit, this ruling will now apply to bills of lading that purport to grant jurisdiction to the courts of England and Wales. 

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