Oberster Gerichtshof, Urteil vom 23/09/2008 5 Ob 201/08g
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:AT:OGH0002:2008:0050OB00201.08G.0923.000
Date: 2008-09-23
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Austria

82008AT0923(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE SUMMARY
JURE SUMMARY
The defendant had formerly lived in Austria. He concluded a consumer contract with the plaintiff, a company having its seat in Austria. The contract contained a jurisdiction clause which stipulated the jurisdiction of an Austrian court. At the time of the conclusion of the jurisdiction agreement, the latter conformed to the requirements for validity laid down in domestic Austrian law and in particular did not infringe consumer protection laws. Later, the defendant moved to Slovenia. The plaintiff commenced proceedings before the Austrian court agreed on. The Brussels I Regulation entered into force in Slovenia 01.05.2004, already before the proceedings were instituted. The Austrian court held that the jurisdiction agreement was legally valid and accepted jurisdiction. The defendant appealed to the OGH (AT).
The OGH (AT) affirms the judgment by the lower court and dismisses the appeal. It holds that the provisions of the Brussels I Regulation are applicable to the case according to Article 66 of the Regulation, as the action was instituted after its entry into force in Slovenia as well as in Austria. Thus, the legal validity of the jurisdiction agreement has to be determined according to the provisions within Article 23 Brussels I Regulation. Article 23, whose formal requirements were met, allows for the settlement of international as well as local jurisdiction in a jurisdiction agreement. Article 17 Brussels I Regulation is not opposed to the validity of the jurisdiction agreement concluded between the parties. A jurisdiction agreement which was once validly concluded with a consumer does not become subsequently invalid due to the circumstance that the consumer later moves to another Member State.