Order — ECLI:EU:C:2016:542
Date: 2016-06-22
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Sixth Chamber
Subject matter: Area of freedom, security and justice;Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Ireland

Summary — Order of the Court (Sixth Chamber), 22 June 2016 1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Reply capable of being clearly deduced from the Court’s existing case-law — Application of Article 99 of the Rules of Procedure (Art. 267 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 99) 2. Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of decisions in matrimonial matters and in the matters of parental responsibility — Regulation No 2201/2003 — Time when a court is seised — Definition — Autonomous and uniform interpretation (Council Regulation No 2201/2003, Art. 16) 3. Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of decisions in matrimonial matters and in the matters of parental responsibility — Regulation No 2201/2003 — Time when a court is seised — Time when the document instituting the proceedings or an equivalent document was lodged with that court — Lodging of that document not automatically initiating proceedings under national law — No effect (Council Regulation No 2201/2003, Art. 16(1)(a)) 1. See the text of the decision. (see paras 17, 18) 2. See the text of the decision. (see para. 25) 3. Article 16(1)(a) of Regulation No 2201/2003 concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation No 1347/2000, must be interpreted to the effect that the ‘time when the document instituting the proceedings or an equivalent document is lodged with the court’, within the meaning of that provision, is the time when that document is lodged with the court concerned, even if under national law lodging that document does not of itself immediately initiate proceedings. Once it has been established which of the two options in Article 16(1)(a) and (b) of Regulation No 2201/2003 applies, in accordance with the choice made by the Member State concerned, the time when a court was seised may be objectively established solely on the basis of the time, as provided for in the case of the first option under Article 16(1)(a), when the document instituting the proceedings or an equivalent document was lodged with that court, irrespective of any national procedural rule intended to determine when and in what circumstances proceedings are initiated or are considered to be pending, provided that the applicant has not subsequently failed to comply with the condition relating to service of that document on the respondent. (see paras 26, 28, 29, operative part)