Hr. formand, for 30 år siden indså Det Europæiske Økonomiske Fællesskab, at den stigende internationale handel forpligtede fællesskabets medlemslande til at indgå en aftale om kompetencefastlæggelse og fuldbyrdelse af civilretlige domme.
Mr President, 30 years ago the then European Economic Community realized that increased international trade meant that the Member States of that Community had to reach a convention to determine competence and how to implement sentences in contractual matters.