Formal Validity. According to the Brussels Convention, the prorogation agreement must be in “writing or by an oral agreement evidenced in writing”.370 The purpose of such wording of Article 17 on 365 ECJ, Case C-214/89, Powell Duffryn plc v Wolfgang Petereit, 10 March 1992, ECLI:EU:C:1992:115. 366 ECJ, Case C-214/89, Powell Duffryn, par. 31. 367 ECJ, Case C-214/89, Powell Duffryn, par. 31. 368 ECJ, Case 23/78, Meeth, par. 8, 9. 369 U. MAGNUS, Article 25, in Brussels I Bis Regulation, 2016, op. cit., p. 620. 370 According to the Jenard Report, the wording determining formal requirements of rule on prorogation of jurisdiction was similar to the Convention between Germany and Belgium, which was based on the rules of the Hague Convention of 15 April 1958 on the jurisdiction of the selected forum in the case of international sale of goods, and the Hague Convention of 25 November 1965 on the choice-of-court. The German-Belgian Convention specifies that an agreement within the meaning of that Article 3 para 2 shall exist only if a party has made its declaration in writing and the opponent has accepted it or if the agreement has been confirmed in writing: «..eine Vereinbarung im Sinne dieser Vorschrift liegt nur vor, wenn eine Partei ihre Erklärung schriftlich abgegeben und die Gegenpartei sie angenommen hat oder wenn die Vereinbarung für den Fall, daß sie mündlich getroffen ist, von einer Partei schriftlich bestätigt worden ist, ohne daß die Gegenpartei der Bestätigung widersprochen hat.» .The Hague Convention of 15 April 1958 in Article 2 provides that when the parties designate the forum in oral form, such designation is valid only if it has been expressly confirmed by a formal requirements was “not to impede commercial practice” and avoid “excessive formality” which is “incompatible with commercial practice”. At the same time, it should not recognize the effect of the agreements on jurisdiction, unless they were the subject of an agreement which implied the consent of all the parties.371 Indeed, the jurisdiction clauses in the printed forms for business correspondence or in the invoices do not have legal force if they are not agreed to by the party against whom they would operate.372 The valid consent of the parties must be granted. The weight given to the written document, which evidences a previous oral agreement, is assessed by the Member State court (i.e., whether a written document serves as evidence of the existence of the agreement).373 The reference to international tr...
