What if a conflict of jurisdiction arises between two Member States?
The Commission has identified two mechanisms which could prevent or settle conflicts of jurisdiction between Member States. One approach would be coordination. On the basis of predetermined priority criteria, conflicting claims to jurisdiction could be settled on a case-by-case basis. Such a task could be entrusted to Eurojust, the Court of Justice or another body. A second approach would be to draw up rules of exclusive jurisdiction within the Union. Such a solution could have the advantage of preventing not only positive conflicts of jurisdiction (where two or more Member States want to judge a particular case) but also negative conflicts (where no Member States wants to judge it). In some cases, however (crimes against national interests, breaches of national security legislation, etc.), Member States might be unwilling to surrender jurisdiction, regardless of where the offences in question were committed.
