Private Law Theory

ABSTRACT
Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) raise distinctive challenges for European Union private international law. While the Anti-SLAPP Directive establishes a common procedural framework for addressing abusive litigation, it does not provide a comprehensive response to the private international law questions that arise when SLAPPs cross borders. This article examines those questions across three stages: jurisdiction, applicable law and recognition and enforcement. It argues that the functional and purpose-based nature of the SLAPP concept creates particular difficulties. Any type of litigation may constitute a SLAPP depending on the strategic and abusive purpose for which it is pursued, rather than on the subject matter or legal basis of the claim. Where its preliminary qualification is made relevant to the operation of jurisdiction or applicable law rules, questions of timing, evidentiary threshold and the relationship between national implementation and autonomous Union concepts become critical. As regards jurisdiction, it critically assesses possible solutions including an ad hoc SLAPP-specific connecting factor, reliance on Article 7(2) Brussels I bis and the claimant’s centre of interests. It argues that these approaches raise questions of predictability and structural neutrality, particularly in light of the phenomenon of reverse litigation, whereby the party ordinarily regarded as the weaker party may instead initiate proceedings strategically, while the defendant becomes the target of the abusive litigation. The article further considers the fragmentation resulting from the exclusion of privacy and personality rights from Rome II and examines possible approaches to the development of more coherent connecting factors, while cautioning against solutions that may facilitate strategic law shopping or weaken the protection of public participation. Finally, it explores the role of public policy and fundamental rights in controlling the cross-border effects of judgments, including the distinct treatment of intra-EU and third-country proceedings. The article concludes by identifying targeted avenues for greater coherence between EU anti-SLAPP policy and its private international law framework.

Pasqua, Marco, Towards a SLAPP-Aware EU Private International Law Framework? (September 30, 2026).