10.6.2009 Official Journal of the European Union L1471 (Acts adopted under the EC Treaty/Euratom Treaty whose publication is not obligatory) DECISIONS COUNCIL COUNCIL DECISION of 27 November 2008 concerning the conclusion of the Convention on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (2009/430[EC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Commu- nity, and in particular Article 61(c) thereof, in conjunction with the first subparagraph of Article 300(2) and the second subpara- graph of Article 300(3) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Having regard to the assent of the European Parliament (1), Whereas: 1 On 16 September 1988, the Member States of the Euro- pean Communities signed an international agreement with the Republic of Iceland, the Kingdom of Norway and the Swiss Confederation on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (2) (the Lugano Convention), thereby extending to Iceland, Nor- way, and Switzerland the application of the rules of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on the same subject matter (%) (the Brussels Convention). (1) Assent of 18 November 2008 (not yet published in the Official Jour- nal). (?) Convention on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (O] L 319, 25.11.1988, p. 9). (*) Brussels Convention on jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (O] L 299, 31.12.1972, p. 32). (Con- solidated version in O] C 27, 26.1.1998, p. 1). 2 Negotiations concerning a revision of the Brussels Conven- tion and the Lugano Convention were undertaken during the years 1998-1999 within the framework of an ad hoc Working Party enlarged with Iceland, Norway and Switzer- land. These negotiations led to the adoption of a text of a draft convention prepared by the Working Party, which was confirmed by the Council at its meeting on 27 and 28 May 1999. Subsequent negotiations within the Council on the basis of this text led to the adoption of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (4), which modernised the rules of the Brussels Convention and made the system of recognition and enforcement swifter and more efficient. In the light of the parallelism between the Brussels and the Lugano Convention regimes on jurisdiction and on recog- nition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commer- cial matters, the rules of the Lugano Convention should be aligned with the rules of Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 in order to achieve the same level of circulation of judgments between the EU Member States and the EFTA States concerned. (% OJL12,16.1.2001, p. 1.