Nejvyšší soud; 2019-09-17; 30 Nd 280/2019
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:CZ:NS:2019:30.ND.280.2019.1
Date: 2019-09-17
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Czechia

82019CZ0917(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
This case regards a question of the local jurisdiction of the Czech courts brought before the Nejvyšší soud (hereinafter ‘the Supreme Court’).
A person domiciled in the Czech Republic requested that the Okresní soud Brno-venkov (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’) issue a payment order against a company domiciled in the Slovak Republic (hereinafter ‘the defendant’) as a consequence of a breach of a transfer contract. The Court of First Instance declared that the Czech courts have jurisdiction over the dispute based on the CMR (1) since the place of delivery was in the Czech Republic. However, the CMR does not provide a solution for the local jurisdiction, so the Court of First Instance declared a lack of its jurisdiction and pursuant to Article 11(3) of the o.s.ř. (2) requested that the Supreme Court decide which Czech court shall hear the case.
The Supreme Court found that the defendant is a company domiciled in another Member State of the European Union with no branch, agency or other establishments in the Czech Republic. The local jurisdiction can be decided neither under the CMR nor under Article 7 of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (3), so the Supreme Court applied Article 11(3) of the o.s.ř. and decided that the Court of First Instance shall have the local jurisdiction since the place of delivery lies within its jurisdiction, the request has been filled to this court and this decision will also satisfy the economy of the procedure.
(1) Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) – (Geneva, 19 May 1956).
(2) Občanský soudní řád (Code of Civil Procedure).
(3) 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.