Gerechtshof Amsterdam; 2024-08-27; Rent a car en Brüning; 200.332.938/01
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2024:2415
Date: 2024-08-27
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Netherlands

82024NL0827(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
Gerechtshof Amsterdam, 27 August 2024, ECLI:NL:GHAMS:2024:2415
Case 200.332.938/01
Rent a Car has purchased vans from Brüning. The general terms and conditions of the contract contain a jurisdiction clause.
The Rechtbank (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’) held that it had no jurisdiction because it could not be established that Brüning had consented to the applicability of Rent a Car’s general terms and conditions containing the jurisdiction clause.
Brüning objected that the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (1) did not apply to the case because the so-called internationality requirement was not met.
The Gerechtshof Amsterdam (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’) set aside the judgment of the Court of First Instance and declared that the Court of First Instance had jurisdiction to hear the dispute between the parties.
4.11 The Court of Appeal held that Brüning must have concluded from the course of events concerning the provision of documents that Rent a Car intended its ‘Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen’ (general terms and conditions) to apply to the sales contract. Because of this, and given how Brüning reacted – in particular by adapting those terms and returning them with the signed purchase order - Rent a Car could reasonably understand that Brüning agreed to the applicability of those terms. The fact that the purchase order did not explicitly refer to the general terms and conditions or that it referred to the general terms and conditions applicable to the contract as ‘Allgemeine Lieferung und Bedingungen’, does not alter this conclusion. Nor is it a requirement that the purchase order refer to these terms and conditions or that the applicable terms and conditions be appropriately designated. The applicability of the terms and conditions may also be agreed upon by other means.
(1) 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 (recast).