Visoki trgovački sud Republike Hrvatske; 2015-05-25; N. G; N. L. d.o.o.; Pž-9201/13-4
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:HR:VTS:2015:5
Date: 2015-05-25
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Croatia

82015HR0525(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
Visoki trgovački sud Republike Hrvatske (hereinafter: High Commercial Court of the Republic of Croatia) issued a decision in case No. Pž-9201/2013 of 25 May 2015.
In its decision, the court rejected the appeal of the plaintiff N.G., the owner of a upholstery company N., Z., in the Republic of Croatia, and at the same time confirmed the decision of the Trgovački sud u Zadru (hereinafter: Commercial Court in Zadar) in case No. P- 213/12 of 02 August 2013.
In the mentioned civil procedure, the plaintiff N. G. sued the defendant N. L. d.o.o. L., the Republic of Slovenia, to obtain payment for his services. The Commercial Court in Zadar declined its own jurisdiction and cancelled all the actions undertaken, and dismissed the lawsuit plaintiff instituted at the Commercial Court in Zadar on 21 June 2012.
During the procedure, it was determined that the legal requirements contained in the provisions of Article 54 and Article 55 of the Zakon o rješavanju sukoba zakona s propisima drugih zemalja u određenim odnosima (Official Gazette 53/91 and 88/01), in connection with the Article 27 of the Zakon o parničnom postupku were not fulfilled to establish the jurisdiction of the Croatian Court in this dispute containing an international element.
Explanation: the defendant of this case is a legal entity domiciled abroad, and plaintiff does not state that at the time of instituting a lawsuit the defendant owned any assets on the territory of the Republic of Croatia, or that the respective obligations of the defendant occurred during his stay in the Republic of Croatia. The plaintiff is also unfoundedly invoking the Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (“Brussels I Regulation”), which came into force in the European Union on 01 March 2002, but is applied in the Republic of Croatia only to procedures which were initiated after accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union, i.e. after 01 July 2013, and therefore according to the Article 2 of the Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union and within the meaning of the Article 66(1) of the Brussels I Regulation does not apply in this case initiated on 21 June 2012.