Nejvyšší soud České republiky; 2014-07-24; 26 Nd 36/2014
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:CZ:NS:2014:26.ND.36.2014.1
Date: 2014-07-24
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Czechia

82014CZ0724(52)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
The Czech legal person Spedice Kudrová s.r.o (hereinafter "the plaintiff") concluded a contract for the international carriage of goods by road with a Hungarian company Apollo Europe Kft. (hereinafter "the defendant"). According to this contract, the goods had to be delivered from Hungary to the Czech Republic (Ústí nad Labem) and the payment had to be made to an account opened at a bank in Teplice. However, the delivery charge remained unpaid and so the plaintiff took the defendant to the Okresní soud Ústí nad Labem (hereinafter "District court Ústí").
The District court Ústí declared its lack of jurisdiction due to missing preconditions for establishing jurisdiction and, based on § 11(3) of the OSŘ (1), it asked the Nejvyšší soud (hereinafter "the Supreme Court") to decide which court had jurisdiction in this case.
The Supreme Court held that the jurisdiction of the Czech courts was established pursuant to Article 31(1)(b) of the CMR (2), according to which the plaintiff may bring an action in the courts of a country within whose territory the place where the goods were taken over by the carrier or the place designated for delivery is situated.
However, the CMR does not contain provisions for determining the local jurisdiction of a specific domestic court. The provisions of the OSŘ could not be applied either. The local jurisdiction could be based on Article 5 of the Brussels I Regulation (3), according to which a person may be sued, in matters relating to a contract, in the courts of the place of performance of the obligation in question.
According to the Supreme Court, the obligation should have been fulfilled by payment to the bank in Teplice, therefore, it is the Okresní soud Teplice (District Court Teplice) who had the jurisdiction to hear and decide this case.
(1) Zákon č. 99/1963 Sb. Občanský soudní řád (Code of Civil Procedure). (2) Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) - (Geneva, 19 May 1956) (3) Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.