Višje sodišče v Celju; 2025-01-30; III Cpg 3/2025
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:SI:VSCE:2025:III.CPG.3.2025
Date: 2025-01-30
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Slovenia

82025SI0130(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
Even where the Slovenian courts have jurisdiction, it does not necessarily follow that Slovenian substantive law will apply in the dispute. There is no doubt that the case involves an international element, since the defendant has its seat in Austria. It is possible that the Slovenian court will have to apply foreign substantive law, namely Austrian law. The law on the basis of which the court will decide is a matter for the application of the conflict-of-law rules in the decision on the merits, and the court cannot prejudge this in the preliminary proceedings for determining jurisdiction.
The Court of Justice of the European Union interprets the concept of contractual obligations autonomously; the essential factor is the voluntary assumption of an obligation.
According to the interpretation of the court of second instance (Court of Appeal), this is not a matter relating to tort, delict or quasi-delict. That ground of jurisdiction applies where there is special alternative jurisdiction in respect of non-contractual obligations to pay damages.
As a third party, the sender is not acquainted with the content of the contract of carriage or with its contracting parties, since the defendant was not the party organising the transport. Accordingly, it would not have been foreseeable for the defendant to be sued before a Slovenian court.
Jurisdiction does not need to be established under either Article 7(1) or Article 7(2) of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (1) for every obligation under the law of obligations. It is possible that neither of those two grounds of jurisdiction applies, in which case only the general jurisdiction based on the place of the defendant’s domicile remains.
(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).