Tribunalul Bacau; 2019-06-03; 669/110/2018
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:RO:TBBAC:2019:007.000252
Date: 2019-06-03
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Romania

82019RO0603(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
The dispute in the case was based on a construction contract between a Romanian company SC MIKETOSALES SRL (hereinafter ‘the service provider’) and a German company H.G.L. MANAGEMENT UND SERVICESIENSTE GmbH (the service customer) which was concluded on 30 November 2015 in Germany. According to the contract, the service provider should renovate a hotel and restaurant (Binger Straße 17, Bad Salzig 56154, Germany), including 40 guest rooms, guest bathrooms and adjoining rooms. The payment for the services was to be made to its bank account in Banca Transilvania, Bacau, Romania.
The Tribunalul Bacău - Secția a II-a Civilă, de contencios administrativ și fiscal (the Court of First Instance) held that pursuant to Articles 5 and 7 of the Brussels I Regulation (recast) (1), the jurisdiction over this case could be established only after the determination of the place of performance of the obligation in question. The cited articles provide that, in the case of the provision of services, the jurisdiction is determined by the place, where, under the contract, the services were provided or should have been provided.
The obligation to pay for the services provided and the actual place of payment are not relevant facts to establish the jurisdiction. These are only commitments related to the main contractual obligation. It is the main contractual obligation that determines the qualification of the contract, and subsequently also the jurisdiction.
Therefore, since the contract between the parties concerned the provision of services, jurisdiction lies with the courts of the place where the services should have been provided, i.e., the German courts, in this case.
(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.