Judgment;Summary — ECLI:EU:C:2023:184
Date: 2023-03-09
Language of the case: Lithuanian
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Subject matter: Area of freedom, security and justice;Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Lithuania

Summary of the request for a preliminary ruling pursuant to Article 98(1) of 
the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice 
Date of receipt: 
4 June 2021 
Referring court: 
Lietuvos vyriausiasis administracinis teismas (Lithuania) 
Date of the decision to refer: 
2 June 2021 
Appellant: 
R.J. R. 
Respondent: 
Valstybės įmonė Registrų centras 
  
Subject matter of the action in the main proceedings 
Refusal to register, in the real property register, the appellant’s ownership of real 
property, that is to say, a land parcel, situated in Lithuania, on the basis of a 
European Certificate of Succession issued in Germany.  
Subject matter and legal basis of the request for a preliminary ruling 
Interpretation of provisions of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council; third paragraph of Article 267 TFEU. 
Question referred 
Must point (l) of Article 1(2) and Article 69(5) of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on jurisdiction, 
applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and acceptance and 
enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of succession and on the creation 
of a European Certificate of Succession be interpreted as not precluding legal 
EN 
SUMMARY OF THE REQUEST FOR A PRELIMINARY RULING – CASE C-354/21 
 
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rules of the Member State in which the immovable property is situated under 
which the rights of ownership can be recorded in the Real Property Register on the 
basis of a European Certificate of Succession only in the case where all of the 
details necessary for registration are set out in that European Certificate of 
Succession? 
Provisions of EU law cited 
Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
4 July 2012 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of 
decisions and acceptance and enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of 
succession and on the creation of a European Certificate of Succession (OJ 2012 
L 201, 27.7.2012, p. 107; hereinafter ‘Regulation (EU) No 650/2012’): recitals 7, 
8, 18, 67 and 68, point (1) of Article 1(2), points (a) and (b) of Article 63(2), point 
(l) of Article 68, and Article 69(1), (2) and (5). 
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1329/2014 of 9 December 2014 
establishing the Forms referred to in Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of the 
European Parliament and of the Council on jurisdiction, applicable law, 
recognition and enforcement of decisions and acceptance and enforcement of 
authentic instruments in matters of succession and on the creation of a European 
Certificate of Succession (OJ 2014 L 359, 16.12.2014, p. 30; hereinafter 
‘Regulation (EU) No 1329/2014’): Article 1(5), point (9) of and footnote 13 to 
Annex IV to Form V set out in Annex 5. 
Provisions of national law cited 
The Lietuvos Respublikos nekilnojamojo turto registro įstatymas (Law of the 
Republic of Lithuania on the Real Property Register; hereinafter ‘the Law on the 
Real Property Register’; the version of Law No XII-1833 of 23 June 2015 is 
relevant in the present case): 
Article 5 
‘… 
2. The keeper of the Real Property Register shall, in accordance with the 
procedure established by legislation, be responsible for the correctness and 
protection of data collected in the Real Property Register. The keeper of the Real 
Property Register shall be responsible only for the consistency of the data entered 
in the Real Property Register with the documents on the basis of which those data 
were entered’. 
Article 22 
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‘The documents confirming the emergence of rights to immovable property, any 
encumbrances affecting those rights, and the legal facts on the basis of which 
those rights are registered in the Real Property Register, are as follows: 
…  
(5) a certificate attesting to the right of succession; 
…  
(10) other documents provided for by law.’ 
Article 23 
‘… 
2. The application must be submitted together with documents confirming the 
emergence of the rights in respect of which registration is sought, any 
encumbrances affecting those rights, and associated legal facts. … 
3. The documents on the basis of which rights to immovable property are 
confirmed, arise, cease, are assigned or encumbered, … must comply with the 
requirements of legislative acts and must contain the data necessary for 
registration in the Real Property Register. 
4. The documents on the basis of which the registration is requested must be 
written legibly and must contain the full forenames, surnames, legal names, 
addresses, identification numbers of the persons related to the registration as well 
as the unique number of the immovable property to which the registration relates, 
which is assigned in accordance with the procedure established by the Real 
Property Cadastre. … 
…’ 
Article 29 
‘The keeper of the Real Property Register shall refuse to register rights to 
immovable property … if any one of the following facts is established during the 
examination of the application: 
… 
(2) the document on the basis of which registration is requested fails to comply 
with the requirements of this Law; 
… 
(6) the application or the document submitted to the keeper of the Real Property 
Register does not contain the data provided for in the rules governing the Real 
SUMMARY OF THE REQUEST FOR A PRELIMINARY RULING – CASE C-354/21 
 
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Property Register which are necessary to identify the immovable property and the 
persons acquiring rights thereto …’ 
The rules governing the Real Property Register approved by Resolution No 379 of 
the Government of the Republic of Lithuania of 23 April 2014: 
‘… 14.2.2. Data identifying the immovable property: 
14.2.2.1. Cadastral area, cadastral block, and cadastral number of the land parcel; 
14.2.2.2. Unique number (identification code) of the land parcel; 
14.2.2.3. Unique number (identification code) of the structure; 
14.2.2.4. Unique number (identification code) of the apartment or premises …’ 
Brief summary of the facts and procedure 
1 R.J. R., the appellant, holds Lithuanian and German nationality and is resident in 
Germany. J.M. R., the mother of R.J. R., died on 6 December 2015; at the time of 
her death, she had her place of habitual residence in Germany. The appellant, the 
sole heir of his mother, accepted her entire estate in Germany without reservation 
in accordance with the procedure and time limits laid down in German law. As the 
estate consisted not only of property owned by his mother in Germany but also of 
property situated in Lithuania, the appellant filed an application for a European 
Certificate of Succession in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 with 
the competent German court. On 24 September 2018, the Amtsgericht Bad Urach 
(District Court, Bad Urach) in the Federal Republic of Germany issued the 
appellant with Certificate of Succession No 1 VI 174/18 (‘the Certificate of 
Succession’) which stated that G. R., who had died on 10 May 2014, left the estate 
to J.M. R., the sole heir, and with European Certificate of Succession 
No 1 VI 175/18, which stated that J.M. R., who had died on 6 December 2015, left 
the estate to R.J. R. and that the latter was the sole heir and accepted the estate 
without reservation. 
2 On 15 March 2019, the appellant submitted to the VĮ [Valstybės įmonė] Registrų 
centras (State Enterprise Centre of Registers) an application for registration of his 
ownership rights to the immovable property registered in the name of his mother. 
Together with the application, the appellant submitted the Certificate of 
Succession and European Certificate of Succession No 1 VI 175/18 issued on 
24 September 2018, copies of translations of those documents, and copies of 
passports of the Republic of Lithuania issued to J.M. R., G. R. and R.J. R. On 
20 March 2019, the appellant’s request was refused by Decision No SPR4-340 of 
the VĮ Registrų centro Turto registrų tvarkymo tarnybos Nekilnojamojo turto 
registro departamento Tauragės skyrius (Tauragė Division of the Real Property 
Register Department of the Property Registers Management Service of the State 
Enterprise Centre of Registers) (‘the Division’), which stated that European 
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Certificate of Succession No 1 VI 175/18 did not contain the data provided for in 
the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on the Real Property Register which were 
necessary to identify the immovable property, that is to say, that that certificate 
did not indicate the property inherited by the appellant. The appellant appealed 
against the decision of the Division to the VĮ Registrų centro Centrinio 
registratoriaus ginčų nagrinėjimo komisija (Disputes Commission of the Central 
Registrar of the State Enterprise Centre of Registers) (‘the Commission’). By 
Decision No CSPR-147 of 9 May 2019, the Commission upheld in full the 
original decision of the Division. 
3 As he disagreed with those decisions of the Division and the Commission, the 
appellant contested them before the Regionų apygardos administracinis teismas 
(Regional Administrative Court). By decision of 30 December 2019, the 
appellant’s action was dismissed as unfounded. The appellant brought an appeal 
against that decision before the Lietuvos vyriausiasis administracinis teismas 
(Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania) and, inter alia, requested that the 
matter of the interpretation of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 be referred to the 
Court of Justice of the European Union for a preliminary ruling. 
Principal arguments of the parties in the main proceedings 
4 The appellant states that he accepted the entire estate without reservation; 
therefore, in accordance with the German law applicable to the entire estate, 
including that in Lithuania, there is no basis on which to specify in the European 
Certificate of Succession the rights possessed by the heir or to make a list of the 
assets. According to the appellant, the German law of succession provides for a 
universal succession to the rights of a deceased person; therefore, as he is the sole 
heir, the entire assets owned by the deceased are to pass to him and, in accordance 
with the German law of succession, succession property cannot be indicated or 
otherwise specified; in such a case, German courts, according to settled case-law, 
do not apply point (l) of Article 68 of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, which 
provides that the Certificate must indicate the share for each heir and, if 
applicable, the list of rights and/or assets for any given heir, and those courts do 
not include in a European Certificate of Succession any details identifying the 
inherited immovable property. Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 does not contain any 
such requirement; nor is there any requirement to specify the inherited property or 
to provide details identifying such property when an application is made for such 
a certificate. Referring to recital 18 and Article 69(5) of Regulation (EU) 
No 650/2012 and to point 67 of the Opinion of the Advocate General in Kubicka, 
C-218/16, EU:C:2017:387, the appellant states that he provided those details in 
his application for registration and that this should have been sufficient. The non-
inclusion of those details in the European Certificate of Succession cannot, he 
argues, constitute an obstacle to the registration of the immovable property 
inherited by him, in particular in the case where he is the sole heir to that property. 
The details required for registration may be indicated by providing additional 
documentation or information. According to the appellant, any interpretation to 
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the contrary would run counter to the objective of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, 
which is to simplify the exercise of the rights of heirs. 
5 The respondent states that, in accordance with recitals 18 and 68, point (1) of 
Article 1(2), Article 69(5) of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 and point (9) of 
Annex IV to Form V set out in Annex 5 to Regulation (EU) No 1329/2014, in the 
case of succession to immovable properties, the registration of those immovable 
properties is to be subject to the law of the Member State in which they are 
situated, irrespective of the country in which the European Certificate of 
Succession was issued. The legal bases for registration of rights to immovable 
property (inter alia, a certificate of succession) are listed in Article 22 of the Law 
on the Real Property Register; therefore, it is not the application submitted by the 
appellant but the documents indicated in that legal provision which must confirm 
the emergence of the rights in respect of which registration is applied for and 
compliance with the requirements of the legal provisions, and it is those 
documents that must contain the details necessary for registration in the Real 
Property Register. The respondent does not agree with the position of the 
appellant that it is clear from Article 29(6) of the Law on the Real Property 
Register that the relevant details may also be indicated in the submitted 
application. The respondent also points out that neither of the two documents 
issued by the Amtsgericht Bad Urach in the Federal Republic of Germany can 
serve as a basis for recording in the Register the rights to the land parcel which 
had been owned by G. R. First, Certificate of Succession No 1 VI 174/18, which 
states that G. R. left the estate to J.M. R., cannot produce the legal effects sought 
by the appellant in the Republic of Lithuania for two reasons: it fails to comply 
with the requirements for the content and form of the European Certificate of 
Succession established in Article 68 of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 and, 
therefore, cannot be regarded as being a European Certificate of Succession, nor is 
it a document issued in accordance with the law of the Republic of Lithuania. 
Second, European Certificate of Succession No 1 VI 175/18 fails to comply with 
the requirements of the Law on the Real Property Register because it does not 
indicate any unique number of the immovable property assigned in accordance 
with the rules governing the Real Property Cadastre and does not provide the 
details necessary to identify the immovable property. The respondent also 
emphasised that the appellant was seeking registration of his property rights to 
only one land parcel which had been owned by G. R. but no European Certificate 
of Succession had been issued in respect of that property, nor were any details or 
information on the estate of G. R. and its acceptance contained in European 
Certificate of Succession No 1 VI 175/18. 
Brief summary of the reasons for the referral 
6 The referring court, in analysing the relevant provisions of Regulation (EU) 
No 650/2012 and of Regulation (EU) No 1329/2014, notes first of all that, in order 
effectively to ensure the rights of heirs and legatees and of other persons close to 
the deceased as well as of the creditors of the succession, Regulation No 650/2012 
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provides for the creation of a European Certificate of Succession which must 
enable every heir, legatee or beneficiary mentioned in the certificate to prove in 
another Member State his or her status and succession rights (judgment of 
1 March 2018, Mahnkopf, C-558/16, EU:C:2018:138, paragraph 36; judgment of 
12 October 2017, Kubicka, C-218/16, EU:C:2017:755, paragraph 59). 
7 According to Article 69(5) of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, the certificate is to 
constitute a valid document for the recording of succession property in the 
relevant register of a Member State. However, according to the referring court, it 
is apparent from the provisions governing the effects of the certificate that the 
possession thereof does not in itself mean that the legal conditions governing 
registration of immovable property laid down by the law of the Member State in 
which the property is situated are not to apply. This conclusion is also confirmed 
by the explanation in recital 18 [of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012] that ‘the 
European Certificate of Succession … should constitute a valid document for the 
recording of succession property in a register of a Member State. This should not 
preclude the authorities involved in the registration from asking the person 
applying for registration to provide such additional information, or to present such 
additional documents, as are required under the law of the Member State in which 
the register is kept’. 
8 As is apparent from point 67 of the Opinion delivered by Advocate General Yves 
Bot on 17 May 2017 in Kubicka, C-218/16, EU:C:2017:387, the scope of 
Regulation No 650/2012 must be limited to the specific requirements for the 
recording of rights in a register; therefore, in practice, other documents or 
information may be required in addition to the European Certificate of Succession 
where, for example, the information in the certificate is not specific enough to 
identify the asset the ownership of which must be registered as having been 
transferred. 
9 Against that background the referring court emphasises that, under the rules of 
national legislation relevant to the present case, the details necessary for 
registration in the Real Property Register may be provided only in the documents 
listed in Article 22 of the Law on the Real Property Register, and, if the keeper of 
the register receives incomplete information, that person does not have the 
discretion to be guided by the details which are submitted in accordance with that 
provision in a document which is not regarded as constituting a basis for lawful 
registration. 
10 The impact of such national rules on the rights of heirs must be assessed against 
the background of the provisions of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 and of 
Regulation (EU) No 1329/2014 governing the content of the certificate. Article 68 
of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 states that ‘the Certificate shall contain the 
following information, to the extent required for the purpose for which it is 
issued’. Point (1) of that article states that the certificate must indicate ‘the share 
for each heir and, if applicable, the list of rights and/or assets for any given heir’. 
The purpose of point (9) of Annex IV to Form V set out in Annex 5 to Regulation 
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(EU) No 1329/2014 (which is mandatory when its purpose is to confirm the status 
and rights of the heir) is to specify ‘asset(s) attributed to the heir and for which 
certification was requested (please specify asset(s) and indicate all relevant 
identification details)’. Footnote 13 to that point explains that it is necessary to 
‘indicate if the heir acquired the ownership or other rights on the assets’ and states 
that, ‘in case of a registered asset, please indicate the information required under 
the law of the Member State in which the register is kept so as to permit the 
identification of the asset (e.g. for immovable property exact address of the 
property, land register, land parcel or cadastral number, description of the 
property)’. Thus, if the details specified in those provisions of the regulations are 
provided, the certificate is to constitute a valid document in the Republic of 
Lithuania for the recording of succession property in the Real Property Register as 
provided for in Article 69(5) of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012. 
11 The Court of Justice has made clear in its case-law that Article 67(1) of 
Regulation No 650/2012 lays down an obligation on the part of the issuing 
authority to use Form V, provided in Annex 5 to Regulation No 1329/2014, for 
the purposes of issuing a certificate (judgment of 17 January 2019, Brisch, 
C-102/18, EU:C:2019:34, paragraph 30). The Amtsgericht Bad Urach in the 
Federal Republic of Germany issued European Certificate of Succession 
No 1 VI 175/18 using Form V provided in Annex 5 to Regulation No 1329/2014; 
it is appended with Annex IV confirming the status and rights of the heir. 
However, no details are provided in point (9) of Annex IV to Form V, the purpose 
of which is to specify asset(s) attributed to the heir and for which certification was 
requested. It is apparent from the arguments put forward by the appellant in his 
appeal and from the case-law of German courts cited that the omission of such 
details is not a mistake on the part of the authority which issued the certificate. 
12 According to the referring court, recital 68 of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 is 
relevant in this regard. It states expressis verbis that ‘The authority which issues 
the Certificate should have regard to the formalities required for the registration of 
immovable property in the Member State in which the register is kept’. However, 
it must also be borne in mind that, when formulating that position in the preamble 
to the regulation, the EU legislature did not introduce a mandatory legal provision 
applicable to the authority which issues the certificate; furthermore, the legislature 
specifically did not repeat that position in the articles of Regulation (EU) 
No 650/2012. 
13 In those circumstances, in the light of the objectives pursued by the creation of the 
European Certificate of Succession and ‘in order for a succession with cross-
border implications within the Union to be settled speedily, smoothly and 
efficiently’ as sought by the EU legislature [in the first sentence of recital 67 of 
Regulation (EU) No 650/2012], the referring court has doubts as to the 
interpretation of point (1) of Article 1(2) and Article 69(5) of Regulation 
No 650/2012 and for that reason requests the Court of Justice to answer the 
question referred for a preliminary ruling.