Judgment C-375/13 28.01.2015 |
Parties |
Jurisdiction |
Formation |
Judge Rapporteur |
Advocate General |
Subject-matter |
Request for a preliminary ruling |
Harald Kolassa v Barclays Bank plc |
CJEU |
4th Chamber |
M. Safjan |
M. Szpunar |
Brussels I Regulation – Financial law and consumer protection |
Keywords |
Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 – Jurisdiction in civil and commercial matters – Consumer, domiciled in one Member State, having purchased securities issued by a bank in another Member State from an intermediary established in a third member State – Jurisdiction for actions brought against the issuer of those securities |
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Significant points |
1. Under which provision of Brussels I Regulation may an applicant who, as a consumer, has acquired a bearer bond from a third party professional invoke jurisdiction for the purposes of an action brought against the issuer of the bond on the basis of the bond conditions, breach of the information and control obligations and liability for the prospectus?
a. Not under Article 15 (1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters due to the lack of an agreement between the consumer and the issuer of the bond. b. Not under Article 5 (1) (a) of Regulation No 44/2001 due to the lack of a legal obligation freely consented to by the issuer towards the applicant. c. In so far as that liability is not based on a matter relating to a contract, within the meaning of Article 5 (1) of the Regulation, under Article 5 (3) of Regulation No 44/2001. In this respect, the courts where the applicant is domiciled have jurisdiction, on the basis of the place where the loss occurred, to hear and determine such an action, particularly when the damage alleged occurred directly in the applicant`s bank account held with a bank established within the area of jurisdiction of those courts. 2. In the context of the determination of international jurisdiction under Regulation No 44/2001, it is not necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the evidence in relation to the disputed facts that are relevant both to the question of jurisdiction and to the existence of the claim. It is, however, permissible for the court hearing the case to examine its international jurisdiction in the light of all the information available to it, including, where appropriate, the allegations made by the defendant. |
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Noteworthy |
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Category Archives: Brussels I regulation
Regulation (EC) No 44/2001— Special jurisdiction in matters relating to tort, delict or quasi-delict
Judgment C-441/13 22.1.2015 |
Parties |
Jurisdiction |
Formation |
Judge Rapporteur |
Advocate General |
Subject-matter |
Reference for a preliminary ruling |
Pez Hejduk V Energie Agentur. NRW GmbH |
CJEU |
4 th Ch. |
M. Safjan |
/ |
Brussels I Regulation |
Keywords |
Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 – Article 5(3) — Special jurisdiction in matters relating to tort, delict or quasi-delict — Copyright — Dematerialised content — Placing online — Determination of the place of the event giving rise to the damage — Criteria |
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Significant points |
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Noteworthy |
Brussels I Regulation – EU competition law – damages claim
Judgment C-302/13 23.10.2014 |
Parties |
Jurisdiction |
Formation |
Judge Rapporteur |
Advocate General |
Subject-matter |
Appeal |
Fly LAL-Lithuanian Airlines AS, in liquidation
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CJEU |
Third Ch. |
C. Toader |
J. Kokott |
Brussels Regulation |
Key-words |
Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 — Article 1(1) — Scope — Civil and commercial matters — Claim for compensation in respect of damage resulting from alleged infringements of European Union competition law — Reductions in airport charges — Article 22(2) — Exclusive jurisdiction — Dispute in proceedings concerning companies or other legal persons or associations of natural or legal persons — Decision granting reductions — Article 31 — Request for recognition and enforcement of a judgment ordering provisional or protective measures — Article 34(1) — Grounds for refusal of recognition — Public policy in the State in which recognition is sought) |
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Summary |
Article 1(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters must be interpreted as meaning that an action, seeking legal redress for damage resulting from alleged infringements of European Union competition law, comes under the notion of “civil and commercial matters” within the meaning of that provision and, therefore, falls within the scope of that regulation. In this respect, it is of no import that the defendant is subject, as regards the determination of the rates of airport charges and reduction in those charges, to generally applicable statutory provisions of a Member State. Article 22(2) of Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted as meaning that such an action does not constitute proceedings which have as their object the validity of the decisions of organs of companies within the meaning of that provision. Article 34(1) of Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted as meaning that neither the detailed rules for determining the amount of the sums which are the subject of the provisional and protective measures granted by a judgment in respect of which recognition and enforcement are requested, in the case where it is possible to follow the line of reasoning which led to the determination of the amount of those sums, and even where legal remedies were available which were used to challenge such methods of calculation, nor the mere invocation of serious economic consequences constitute grounds establishing the infringement of public policy of the Member State in which recognition is sought which would permit the refusal of recognition and enforcement in that Member State of such a judgment given in another Member State. |
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Noteworthy |
As far as I know, the CJEU has acknowledged for the first time that lack of reasoning may be grounds for refusal of recognition of a judgment other than a default judgment, in contrast to the situations at hand in the cases Krombach (C-79/98), ASML Netherlands BV (C-283/05) and Trade Agency Ltd.
As a result, the right to a fair trial is increasingly susceptible to undermine the efficiency of the mechanism of recognition and enforcement laid down by the Brussels Regulation. |