Nejvyšší soud České republiky; 2014-12-16; 21 Nd 389/2014
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:CZ:NS:2014:21.ND.389.2014.1
Date: 2014-12-16
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Czechia

82014CZ1216(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
A Czech company (hereinafter the “plaintiff”) with its registered office in Prague sued a Polish company (hereinafter the “defendant”) with its registered office in Warsaw for discharge of a debt based on a rental agreement.
The plaintiff turned directly to the Nejvyšší soud (hereinafter “the Supreme Court”) to determine which Czech court had the local jurisdiction to hear and decide this case. According to the plaintiff, the jurisdiction of Czech courts is established according to the Article 24 and Article 60 of the Brussels I Regulation (1) and the Supreme Court shall decide, on the basis of Article 11 of the OSŘ (2), which specific court has to handle this case.
The Supreme Court pointed out the jurisdiction clause in Article VI(4) of the rental agreement, according to which the parties agreed to settle all disputes in proceedings before courts of the place where the plaintiff has their registered office. Per Article 23 of the Brussels I Regulation, if the parties have agreed that the courts of a Member State are to have jurisdiction to settle any disputes which have arisen or which may arise in connection with a particular legal relationship, that court shall have jurisdiction. Such jurisdiction shall be exclusive unless the parties have agreed otherwise.
The plaintiff has its registered office in Prague. Therefore, the Obvodní soud Praha (District Court Prague) had jurisdiction in the case, resulting directly from the jurisdiction clause. For that reason, the Supreme Court refused to determine which court should hear and decide the case by its decision.
(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.
(2) Zákon č. 99/1963 Sb. Občanský soudní řád.