Case C-306/12: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 10 October 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Saarbrücken — Germany) — Spedition Welter GmbH v Avanssur SA (Insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles and enforcement of the obligation to insure against such liability — Directive 2009/103/EC — Article 21(5) — Claims representative — Authority to accept service of judicial documents — National rule making the validity of that service conditional on the express grant of an authority to accept it — Interpretation in conformity with Union law)
Date: 2013-10-10
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: administrative contract, insurance claim, interpretation of the law, road traffic, third-party insurance








C_2013344EN.01003202.xml










23.11.2013   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 344/32





Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 10 October 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Saarbrücken — Germany) — Spedition Welter GmbH v Avanssur SA
(Case C-306/12) (1)

(Insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles and enforcement of the obligation to insure against such liability - Directive 2009/103/EC - Article 21(5) - Claims representative - Authority to accept service of judicial documents - National rule making the validity of that service conditional on the express grant of an authority to accept it - Interpretation in conformity with Union law)
2013/C 344/55
Language of the case: German

Referring court

Landgericht Saarbrücken

Parties to the main proceedings


Appellant: Spedition Welter GmbH

Respondent: Avanssur SA

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Landgericht Saarbrücken — Interpretation of Article 21(5) of Directive 2009/103/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, and the enforcement of the obligation to insure against such liability (OJ 2009 L 263, p. 11) — Claims representative — Service on the claims representative of proceedings brought by the injured party against the insurance undertaking — National rule making the validity of that service conditional on the express grant of an authority to accept service — Direct effect of the abovementioned provision of the directive

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 21(5) of Directive 2009/103/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, and the enforcement of the obligation to insure against such liability, must be interpreted as meaning that the claims representative’s sufficient powers must include authority validly to accept service of judicial documents necessary for proceedings for settlement of a claim to be brought before the court having jurisdiction.










2.


In circumstances such as those of the case in the main proceedings, where national legislation has reproduced word for word the provisions of Article 21(5) of Directive 2009/103, the referring court is required, taking the whole body of domestic law into consideration and applying the interpretative methods recognised by domestic law, to interpret national law in a way that is compatible with the interpretation given to the directive by the Court of Justice of the European Union.






(1)  OJ C 287, 22.9.2012.