Nejvyšší soud Brnó, usnesení ze dne 14/07/2010 20 Cdo 1747/2008 B&W Telecommunication Services GmbH and MP Media s.r.o.
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:CZ:NS:2010:20.CDO.1747.2008.1
Date: 2010-07-14
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Czechia

82010CZ0714(52)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE SUMMARY
JURE SUMMARY
The judgment creditor, an Austrian company, applied for a declaration of enforceability on a default judgment of the Handelsgericht of Vienna (AT) against a Czech company, and sought an order from the Obvodní soud of Prague 4 (CZ) for execution against the debtor's property. The Austrian judgment was declared enforceable, and execution was ordered. On appeal, the Městský soud of Prague (CZ) confirmed the decision of the first instance court, stating that the judgment creditor had submitted the judgment, which was enforceable, with an official translation and a certificate issued by the Austrian court. It stated further that both the complaint and the call to respond had entered the sphere of the judgment debtor and that the default judgment had been served by being deposited at the Handelsgericht of Vienna (AT).
The Nejvyšší soud (CZ) refers to the ECJ decision of 14.12.2006 C-283/05 ASML, according to which Article 34(2) Brussels I Regulation is to be interpreted as meaning that it is only "possible" for a defendant to bring proceedings to challenge a default judgment against him if he was in fact acquainted with its contents by it being served on him in sufficient time as to enable him to arrange for his defence before the courts of the state in which the judgment was given. According to the ECJ, Article 34(2) Brussels I Regulation does not necessarily require the due service of the document initiating proceedings, but the observance of rights of defence, which were not violated in that case. It states further that the Service Regulation 1348/2000 regulates the procedure for service if documents are to be served in another Member State, but does not regulate the form of service. If national law permits service by deposit of a document with the court, and if its conditions are fulfilled, this Regulation does not apply at all.