Nejvyšší soud České republiky; 2014-09-10; 30 Nd 242/2014
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:CZ:NS:2014:30.ND.242.2014.1
Date: 2014-09-10
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Czechia

82014CZ0910(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
This case concerned the enforcement of a judgment for payment of CZK 6_771.37.
The bailiff asked the Okresní soud Kroměříž (hereinafter "the District Court Kroměříž") to be appointed to lead an enforcement of the judgment. The District Court Kroměříž declared that it lacked jurisdiction and submitted the case to the Nejvyšší soud (hereinafter "the Supreme Court") under Article 11(3) of OSŘ (1), based on which; if none of the rules to determine the local jurisdiction apply in a case, the case must be submitted to the Supreme Court to rule on the question of which of the Czech courts have local jurisdiction to decide in the particular case. The District Court Kroměříž reached its decision on the grounds that the defendant is a citizen of Slovakia, does not have a place of residence in the Czech Republic and that his temporary stay in the Czech Republic ended four years ago.
The Supreme Court argued that in this case it is undisputed that enforcement is supposed to happen in the Czech Republic on property that the defendant has in the Czech Republic. The court therefore applied Article 22(5) of the Brussels I Regulation (2) under which, the courts of the Member State in which the judgment has been or is to be enforced, have exclusive jurisdiction regardless of domicile in proceedings concerned with the enforcement of judgments.
The Czech courts therefore have international jurisdiction. To determine the local jurisdiction of a particular court is a question of national law. As no other procedural rules could apply in this case, the Supreme Court decided, considering the principle of effectiveness and economy of court proceedings that the District Court Kroměříž should decide this particular case, as the proceedings were started at this court.
(1) Zákon č. 99/1963 Sb. Občanský soudní řád (Code of Civil Procedure). (2) Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.