Recast Brussels Regulation 1215/2012

On 12 December 2012 the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation (EC) 1215/2012 ("Recast Regulation") which replaces Regulation (EC) 44/2001 ("Brussels I Regulation") on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters. On 10 January 2015 courts in the EU began to apply the revised rules to cases instituted on or after that date.
One of the most significant changes of the new Regulation is that the parties' chosen court is now free to try a dispute without delay, whether or not proceedings have already commenced elsewhere in the EU (Article 31(2)).

Previously it had to wait until the 'court first seized' declined jurisdiction.
Other changes are the abolition of exequatur (the intermediate procedure for the recognition and enforcement of judgments) and the extension of the jurisdiction rules in the Brussels Regulation to disputes involving defendants who are not domiciled in an EU Member State