Nejvyšší soud; 2020-02-19; 20 Ncu 24/2020
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:CZ:NS:2020:20.NCU.24.2020.1
Date: 2020-02-19
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Czechia

82020CZ0219(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
This case regards a request for the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgment received by the Nejvyšší soud (hereinafter ‘the Supreme Court’).
A natural person (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’) requested the Supreme Court to recognise in the Czech Republic a decree of divorce issued by the Amtsgericht Mettmann (Germany). The Supreme Court recalled that recognition of judgments in matrimonial matters is governed by the new Brussels II Regulation (1). Article 21(1) of this Regulation provides that ‘a judgment given in a Member State shall be recognised in the other Member States without any special procedure being required’, but Article 21(3) provides an option that ‘any interested party may […] apply for a decision that the judgment be or not be recognised’. In such cases, the recognition is governed by national law, specifically by Article 16(2) of the ZMPS (2), according to which jurisdiction in these cases belongs to the district courts.
The Supreme Court declared its incompetence to decide on this request and referred the request to the Obvodní soud pro Prahu 9, which is a general district court of the plaintiff and therefore it has jurisdiction to deal with it.
(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 of 27 November 2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation (EC) No 1347/2000.
(2) Zákon o mezinárodním právu soukromém (Law on Private International Law)