Judgment (Preliminary issue)

Judgment of the Tribunal on a preliminary issue in Cases 1349-1350 (“the Westover claims”) and 1383-1384 (“the Alan Howard claims”). 34 of the Westover claimants and four of the Alan Howard claimants are Italian companies. Those Italian claimants contend that they can base their claims on English law. Visa and Mastercard contend that they are not entitled to do so and that their claims are governed by Italian law.

For the reasons set out in the judgment the Tribunal unanimously determined that:  

1. the claims by the Italian claimants in respect of Italian domestic multilateral interchange fees (“MIFs”) are governed by Italian law, pursuant to Art 6(3)(a) of Regulation 864/2007 on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (“Rome II”);
2. the claims by the Italian claimants in respect of EEA MIFs and Inter-regional MIFs fall within Art 6(3)(b) of Rome II and those claimants are therefore entitled to choose to base them on English law.