Cour de cassation; 2021-06-09; 20-15356
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:FR:CCASS:2021:C100427
Date: 2021-06-09
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters;Lugano Convention
Origin: France

82021FR0609(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
The dispute opposes the company Digital Audio, domiciled in Switzerland (hereinafter ‘the defendant’) and the company Anthalys, domiciled in France (hereinafter ‘the plaintiff’). The defendant refused the delivery of products ordered from the plaintiff. The plaintiff sued the defendant before the tribunal de commerce d’Auxerre (hereinafter ‘the Court of First Instance’), invoking a jurisdiction clause stated in its General Terms and Conditions of Sale (hereinafter ‘GTC’), requesting the payment of the invoices, as well as of the costs of shipping and the return of the goods.
The defendant raised a plea of lack of jurisdiction in favour of the Swiss courts before the cour d’appel de Paris (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’). The appellate decision rebutted this argument resulting in the defendant appealing against it to cassation.
The Cour de cassation (hereinafter ‘the Supreme Court’) confirms the appellate decision and thus the jurisdiction of the French courts. The Supreme Court agrees that the conditions set by Article 23, in particular paragraph 2, of the new Lugano Convention (1) are fulfilled, so to consider that the jurisdiction provision stipulated in the GTC is valid. This clause was the subject of electronic transmission, repeatedly provided in the order forms, and consented to by the defendant while acknowledging the receipt of said order forms, as stipulated. In addition, these GTC were available for consultation online, where they were durably recorded and unchanged since they were first posted. The Supreme Court holds that the defendant had accepted a contract that expressly referred to the GTC, which were available for consultation upon normal diligence and which it could save or print out prior to the conclusion of the contract itself. Furthermore, the electronic link to the GTC was clearly stated in the order form, as was the mention that acceptance of the order form constituted acceptance of the GTC.
(1) Convention on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.