Tribunal da Relação do Porto; 2021-09-14; 91530/20.4YIPRT.P1
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:PT:TRP:2021:91530.20.4YIPRT.P1.10
Date: 2021-09-14
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Portugal

82021PT0914(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
I. The concepts expressed in the regulations of the European Union have an autonomous character in the sense that they assume meaning in the context of the law of the European Union and not as densifying support for the national law of each Member State.
II. The Brussels I Regulation (recast) (1), after establishing in Article 4 the general rule that ‘persons domiciled in a Member State shall, whatever their nationality, be sued in the courts of that Member State’, lays down in Article 7 the special criteria for conferring jurisdiction.
III. Article 7 of the Brussels I Regulation provides an autonomous definition of the place of performance as a criterion for determining jurisdiction. In relation to contracts for the sale of goods and contracts for the provision of services, it does not refer to the specific obligation in action but rather to the obligation characteristic of the type of contract: the delivery of the goods in the case of the former and the provision (performance) of the services in the case of the latter.
IV. Where the basis of a contract for the provision of services is carrying out, in Portugal, by a Portuguese commercial company domiciled in Portugal, of work on a set of items sent from France by the owner (a French commercial company domiciled in France), which were returned to France after the service had been provided, the Portuguese courts have international jurisdiction to hear and decide the action in which the service provider of the services seeks an order that the recipient of the service pay the agreed price.
V. Article 4 of Decreto-Lei n.º 269/98 (2), which lays down the rules for calculating the time limits in the system established by that decree-law, also applies to the time limit for lodging an opposition to the application for an injunction. Therefore, regardless of whether the summons was served abroad, namely in another Member State of the European Union, and regardless of whether the defendant is a person who is not a national of the State in which the injunction is sought, a judgment of unconstitutionality cannot be given on the ground of infringement of Article 20 of the Constituição da República Portuguesa (3).
(1) Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (recast).
(2) Decreto-Lei n.º 269/98, de 1 de Setembro (Decree-Law No. 269/98, of 1 September, related to procedures for claiming performance of pecuniary obligations arising from contracts with a value not exceeding EUR 15 000).
(3) Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.