Nejvyšší soud; 2017-06-15; 25 Nd 198/2017
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:CZ:NS:2017:25.ND.198.2017.1
Date: 2017-06-15
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Czechia

82017CZ0615(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
A bailiff (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’) requested the Okresní soud v Břeclavi (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’) to authorise him for an enforcement of a claim against a natural person M. M. (hereinafter ‘the defendant’) in the benefit of a Czech company. During the proceedings it was found that the defendant is a citizen of the Slovak Republic. The Court of First Instance a declared lack of its jurisdiction to hear the request and, based on paragraph 11(3) of the o.s.ř. (1), asked the Nejvyšší soud (hereinafter ‘the Supreme Court’) to decide which court had jurisdiction.
The Supreme Court cited Article 24(5) of the new Brussels I Regulation (2), according to which, in proceedings concerned with the enforcement of judgments, exclusive jurisdiction, regardless of the domicile of the parties, shall have ‘the courts of the Member State in which the judgment has been or is to be enforced’. However, the Supreme Court made clear that in cases where the court declares itself incompetent to hear the dispute and asks the Supreme Court for a decision concerning jurisdiction by virtue of paragraph 11(3) of the o.s.ř., the Supreme Court is not entitled to examine the international jurisdiction of the Czech courts specifically.
The fact whether the defendant owns any enforceable assets in the Czech Republic will transpire only as a result of the activity of the bailiff authorised to enforce the claims against the defendant.
In such situation, the Supreme Court determines the court having jurisdiction on the basis of the principles of speed and economy of the proceedings. Therefore, the jurisdiction of this case belonged to the Court of First Instance, which had already performed the initial actions in this case and which was also the court having local jurisdiction on the basis of the seat of the company, in benefit of which the request was sought.
(1) Občanský soudní řád (Code of Civil Procedure).
(2) 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.