Summary
Pursuant to Article 23(a) of Regulation (EC) No 44/2001, Italian courts do not retain jurisdiction over a claim filed by two Italian insurance companies to recover the amounts they paid to the insured, owner of the damaged oil terminal, against two foreign insurance companies and the English owner of the damaged ship. In fact, if two financial arrangements are entered into between partially overlapping parties the first agreement including a clause conferring jurisdiction to English courts, and the second agreement, i.e. the one signed by the parties, referring to the first agreement in all its clauses (so-called relatio perfecta), the requirement of written form must be considered as fulfilled.