Županijski sud u Zagrebu; 2015-02-23; E. N.; O. G.; Gž-804/2015-2
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:HR:ZSZG:2015:1
Date: 2015-02-23
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Croatia

82015HR0223(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
The Županijski sud u Zagrebu (hereinafter: Municipal Court in Zagreb) in case No Gž-804/2015-2 of 23 July 2015 decided to reject the appeal of the opposite party O.G. from Z., R. of C. as unfounded. In the same decision, the Municipal Court in Zagreb confirmed the decision of the Općinski građanski sud u Zagrebu (hereinafter: Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb) case No R1-484/2014-3 of 25 July 2014, and the supplemental decision of the Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb in an extrajudicial procedure to recognise a foreign court decision, case number R1-484/2014-6 of 15 September 2014, which recognised the decisions of the Landgericht München I (hereinafter: District Court of Munich I), in case numbers 15 O 15413/2010 of 16 January 2013 and 15 O 15413/2010 of 13 December 2013. In accordance with these decisions, the opposite party O.G. was ordered to pay the legal expenses with all accrued interest to the applicant E. N. from P. am C., G. F. R.. During the procedure, it was determined that the first instance Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb recognised cited foreign court decisions. In the statement of reasons for its decision a number of connecting factors contained in the provisions of Articles 87 to 92 of Zakon o rješavanju sukoba zakona s propisima drugih zemalja u određenim odnosima (Official Gazette 53/91 and others - hereinafter: ZRSZ) is mentioned. The second instance County Court in Zagreb rejected the opposite party’s appeal as unfounded, assuming that it has no influence on the final decision in the concerned correctly conducted exequatur procedure, which was initiated by the applicant in order to recognise the decision of a foreign court, as the court of first instance incorrectly applied the said connecting factors of the ZRSZ. The relevant conditions for the recognition of the decision of the District Court of Munich I case No 15 O 15413/2010 of 16 January 2013, were those of the Agreement on Legal Assistance in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters (Official journal of the SFR Yugoslavia – Annex No 1/67) and the Agreement between the Republic of Croatia and the Federal Republic of Germany on general succession of 04 March 1992, along with Article 3 of the ZRSZ. In the other case, the correct provisions applied to the decision of the District Court of Munich I case No 15 O 15413/2010 of 13 December 2013, which was taken during the validity of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (Official journal of the European Communities, L 12, 16.1.2001; “Brussels I Regulation”), should have been the provisions of Article 33(2) properly applied in connection with Article 34 and Article 35 of Brussels I Regulation, with the proviso that under no circumstances may a foreign judgment be reviewed as to its substance (Article 36 of the Brussels I Regulation).