Oberster Gerichtshof, Urteil vom 27/07/2005 10 Nc 19/05h
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:AT:OGH0002:2005:RS0120110
Date: 2005-07-27
Subject matter: Brussels Convention of 27 September 1968
Origin: Austria

82005AT0727(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE SUMMARY
JURE SUMMARY
The Austrian claimant registered herself as a player with the internet casino of the respondent, which had its seat in Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles). She later incurred high losses playing, which she intended to claim from the respondent before the Austrian courts. The claimant thus requested that a competent Austrian court be designated, as prosecution at the seat of the respondent was unacceptable to her.
The OGH (AT) holds that the consumer, as the typically weaker party, is subject to a special set of laws and procedural protection (Articles 13-15 Brussels Convention/Lugano Convention and Article 5 Rome Convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations). This especially applies if the other party to the contract directs its professional activities towards the State of domicile of the consumer. Particularly in e-commerce, the consumer, through the technical possibilities offered by, and the new marketing techniques associated with, the internet (as opposed to classic sales techniques), is typically not aware that his potential contractual partner may have its seat a great distance from the consumer's own State. This especially applies if the contractual partner communicates with the consumer in the consumer’s native language. For the consumer, prosecution in the far away State of domicile of the company, using a foreign procedural language, is seen as unacceptable. Thus, the Landesgericht of Innsbruck (AT) shall be designated as the court having local jurisdiction.