Britain to unveil proposals to solve post-Brexit cross-border disputes

The British government will on Tuesday unveil proposals for solving cross-border legal disputes after Britain leaves the European Union.

The Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEu) said that under the proposals, families, businesses and individuals living and working across Britain and the EU will resolve disputes "in a clear and sensible way", Xinhua news agency reported.

The future partnership paper on civil judicial cooperation will cover plans for handling consumer disputes and those of businesses and investors.

"These could relate to issues such as a small business that has been left out of pocket by a supplier based in another EU country, a consumer who wants to sue a business in another country for a defective product they have purchased online, or a person who needs to settle divorce, child custody or maintenance issues with a family member who is living in a different EU country," explained a DExEu spokesman.

"With more and more families living across borders, we need to make absolutely sure that if and when problems arise, they can be reassured that cross-border laws will apply to them in a fair and sensible way," the department said.

The DExEu said the position paper will help to bring clarity to those involved in such disputes about which country's courts will hear a case, which country's law will be used to resolve it and that a judgement obtained in one country can be recognised and enforced in another.

Britain is currently part of the EU's civil judicial cooperation system, meaning families living in different parts of the EU have had a clear set of rules to manage cross-border disputes.

--IANS

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