Oberster Gerichtshof, Urteil vom 25/11/2004 6 Ob 253/04f
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:AT:OGH0002:2004:0060OB00253.04F.1125.000
Date: 2004-11-25
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Austria

82004AT1125(01)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE SUMMARY
JURE SUMMARY
The plaintiff, having its seat in Austria, claimed damages from the defendant, having its seat in Slovenia, following a not duly accomplished delivery of goods and asserted that the fact that the order form’s heading contained, between the personal data, the passage "BG : Bad Radkersburg ausschl." led to the conclusion of a jurisdiction agreement. The court of first instance dismissed the allegation and denied jurisdiction. The appellate court affirmed the judgment.
The OGH(AT) finds that the possible reference to jurisdiction is not contained in the text of the contract itself but was inconspicuously incorporated in the information on the plaintiff in the order forms’ heading. It cannot be expected to find an offer concerning the conclusion of a jurisdiction agreement there. Furthermore, this form is neither normally used in trade. Besides, the order form does not contain any term referring to jurisdiction. Only the name of a place is written out whilst the abbreviations cannot be clearly understood. Thus the reference is much too unclear to constitute the basis of a jurisdiction agreement which has to be clear and distinct.