Case C-281/02

Andrew Owusu

v

N.B. Jackson, trading as ‘Villa Holidays Bal-Inn Villas’ and Others

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Court of Appeal (England and Wales) (Civil Division))

(Brussels Convention – Territorial scope of the Brussels Convention – Article 2 – Jurisdiction – Accident which occurred in a non-Contracting State – Personal injury – Action brought in a Contracting State against a person domiciled in that State and other defendants domiciled in a non-Contracting State – Forum non conveniens – Incompatibility with the Brussels Convention)

Opinion of Advocate General Léger delivered on 14 December 2004

Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber), 1 March 2005

Summary of the Judgment

1. Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments – Jurisdiction – Litigation between parties domiciled in the same Contracting State and having connections with a non-Contracting State – Applicability of Article 2 of the Convention

(Brussels Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 2)

2. Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments – Jurisdiction – Jurisdiciton of the court of a Contracting State on the basis of Article 2 of the Convention – Objection to jurisdiction derived from an exception on the basis of the forum non conveniens doctrine – Not permissible

(Brussels Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 2)

1. Article 2 of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, as amended by the Convention of 9 October 1978 on the Accession of the Kingdom of Denmark, of Ireland and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, by the Convention of 25 October 1982 on the Accession of the Hellenic Republic and by the Convention of 26 May 1989 on the Accession of the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic, is applicable in proceedings where the parties before the courts of a Contracting State are domiciled in that State and the litigation between them has certain connections with a third State but not with another Contracting State, that provision thus covering relationships between the courts of a single Contracting State and those of a non-Contracting State, rather than relationships between the courts of several Contracting States.

Although, for the jurisdiction rules of the Convention to apply at all, the existence of an international element is required, the international nature of the legal relationship at issue need not necessarily derive, for the purposes of the application of that provision, from the involvement, either because of the subject-matter of the proceedings or the respective domiciles of the parties, of a number of Contracting States. The involvement of a Contracting State and a non-Contracting State, for example because the claimant and one defendant are domiciled in the first State and the events at issue occurred in the second, would also make the legal relationship at issue international in nature.

Moreover, the designation of the court of a Contracting State as the court having jurisdiction on the ground of the defendant’s domicile in that State, even in proceedings which are, at least in part, connected, because of their subject-matter or the claimant’s domicile, with a non-Contracting State, is not such as to impose an obligation on that State so that the principle of the relative effect of treaties is not affected.

(see paras 25-26, 30-31, 35)

2. The Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, as amended by the Convention of 9 October 1978 on the Accession of the Kingdom of Denmark, of Ireland and of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, by the Convention of 25 October 1982 on the Accession of the Hellenic Republic and by the Convention of 26 May 1989 on the Accession of the Kingdom of Spain and the Portuguese Republic, precludes a court of a Contracting State from declining to exercise jurisdiction on the ground that a court in a non-Contracting State would be a more appropriate forum for the trial of the action even if the jurisdiction of no other Contracting State is in issue or the proceedings have no connecting factors to any other Contracting State.

No exception on the basis of the forum non conveniens doctrine was provided for by the authors of the Convention and application of the doctrine is liable to undermine the predictability of the rules of jurisdiction laid down by the Convention, and consequently to undermine the principle of legal certainty, which is the basis of the Convention. Moreover, allowing forum non conveniens would be likely to affect the uniform application of the rules of jurisdiction contained in the Convention and the legal protection of persons established in the Community.

(see paras 37, 41-43, operative part)