UB v VA and Others.
Date: 2019-12-04
23


Article 3(1) of Regulation No 1346/2000 confers exclusive jurisdiction to open the main insolvency proceedings on the courts of the Member State within the territory of which the centre of the debtor’s interests is situated (judgment of 14 November 2018, Wiemer & Trachte, C‑296/17, EU:C:2018:902, paragraph 23 and the case-law cited).
25


In that respect, in the first place, it should be noted that, relying on recital 6 of Regulation No 1346/2000, and in order to ensure the effectiveness of that regulation, the Court has held that Article 3(1) of that regulation confers on the courts of the Member State which has jurisdiction to open insolvency proceedings international jurisdiction to hear and determine actions which derive directly from those proceedings and which are closely connected with them (see, to that effect, judgment of 19 April 2012, F-Tex, C‑213/10, EU:C:2012:215, paragraphs 26 and 27 and the case-law cited).
27


With regard to the first criterion, in order to determine whether an action derives directly from insolvency proceedings, it should be noted that it is clear from the Court’s settled case-law that the decisive factor for determining the area within which an action falls is not the procedural context of the action, but its legal basis. According to that approach, it must be determined whether the right or the obligation which forms the basis of the action derives from the ordinary rules of civil and commercial law or from derogating rules specific to insolvency proceedings (see, to that effect, judgment of 9 November 2017, Tünkers France and Tünkers Maschinenbau, C‑641/16, EU:C:2017:847, paragraph 22 and the case-law cited).
28


As regards the second criterion, for the purpose of determining whether an action is closely connected with insolvency proceedings, it is also settled case-law that it is the closeness of the link between that action and the insolvency proceedings that is decisive for the purpose of deciding whether the exception set out in Article 1(2)(b) of Regulation No 44/2001 is applicable (judgment of 9 November 2017, Tünkers France and Tünkers Maschinenbau, C‑641/16, EU:C:2017:847, paragraph 28 and the case-law cited).
29


In the second place, the Court has concluded from an analysis of the respective scope of Regulation No 44/2001 and Regulation No 1346/2000, as well as from the objectives of Regulation No 1346/2000, that the courts of the Member State within the territory of which insolvency proceedings have been opened, as referred to in Article 3(1) of that regulation, enjoy exclusive jurisdiction to hear actions which derive directly from those proceedings and are closely connected with them (see, to that effect, judgment of 14 November 2018, Wiemer & Trachte, C‑296/17, EU:C:2018:902, paragraph 36).
34


Regulation No 1346/2000 does not impose any rule conferring on the courts of the place where immovable property is located international jurisdiction to hear an action for the restitution of those assets to the bankruptcy estate in insolvency proceedings. Furthermore, concentrating all the actions directly related to the insolvency proceedings before the courts of the Member State within the territory of which with those proceedings were opened is consistent with the objective of improving the efficiency and speed of insolvency proceedings having cross-border effects, referred to in recitals 2 and 8 of Regulation No 1346/2000 (see, to that effect, judgment of 14 November 2018, Wiemer & Trachte, C‑296/17, EU:C:2018:902, paragraph 33 and the case-law cited).
40


In that regard, the Court has held that the second subparagraph of Article 25(1) of Regulation No 1346/2000 covers only the recognition and enforceability of judgments deriving directly from the insolvency proceedings and which are closely linked with them, even if they were handed down by another court of the Member State within the territory of which the insolvency proceedings were opened. That provision merely allows for the possibility that the courts of a Member State within the territory of which insolvency proceedings have been opened pursuant to Article 3(1) of that regulation may also hear and determine an action which derives directly from those proceedings and is closely connected with them, whether that be the court which opened the insolvency proceedings under Article 3(1), or another court of that same Member State having territorial and substantive jurisdiction (see, to that effect, judgment of 14 November 2018, Wiemer & Trachte, C‑296/17, EU:C:2018:902, paragraph 42 and the case-law cited).