Case C‑379/17

Proceedings brought by Società Immobiliare Al Bosco Srl

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Judicial co-operation in civil matters — Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 — Recognition and enforcement of decisions in civil and commercial matters — Time limit laid down in the law of the Member State addressed for enforcing a preventive attachment order — Applicability of that time limit to a preventive attachment instrument obtained in another Member State and declared enforceable in the Member State in which enforcement is sought)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber), 4 October 2018

Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters — Regulation No 44/2001 — Recognition and enforcement of judgments — Application of the procedural rules of the Member State in which enforcement is sought to enforcement in the strict sense — Scope — Legislation of the Member State in which enforcement is sought which provides for a time limit for the enforcement of a preventive attachment order — Included

(Council Regulation No 44/2001, Art. 38)

Article 38 of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters must be interpreted as not precluding legislation of a Member State, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which provides for the application of a time limit for the enforcement of a preventive attachment order, from being applied in the case of an order which has been adopted in another Member State and is enforceable in the Member State in which enforcement is sought.

Since the enforcement, in the strict sense, of a decision issued by a court of a Member State other than the Member State in which enforcement is sought, and which is enforceable in the latter Member State, has not been the subject of harmonisation by the EU legislature, the procedural rules of the Member State in which enforcement is sought are to apply to matters relating to enforcement. In particular, it is clear that, in so far as Regulation No 44/2001 has not laid down rules concerning the enforcement of decisions given by a court of a Member State other than the Member State in which enforcement is sought, the latter remains free to make provision, in its own legal order, for the application of a time limit for enforcing such decisions, which have been recognised and declared enforceable in the latter Member State. In that regard, it is settled case-law that, once that judgment is incorporated into the legal order of the Member State in which enforcement is sought, national legislation of that Member State relating to enforcement applies in the same way as to judgments delivered by national courts (judgment of 13 October 2011, Prism Investments, C‑139/10, EU:C:2011:653, paragraph 40 and the case-law cited). The procedural rules of the Member State in which enforcement is sought alone are applicable. The courts of that Member State are not required to apply any provisions of the national legislation of the Member State of origin which, in respect of the enforcement of decisions given by the courts of the Member State of origin, lay down time limits which differ from those laid down by the law of the Member State in which enforcement is sought.

(see paras 33-36, 51, operative part)