AAS „BALTA“ v UAB „GRIFS AG“.
Date: 2020-02-27
In that respect, it must be borne in mind that, since Articles 15 and 16 of Regulation No 1215/2012 repeat the wording of Articles 13 and 14 respectively of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (OJ 2001 L 12, p. 1), the interpretation given by the Court with regard to those provisions of that latter regulation remains valid for the equivalent provisions of Regulation No 1215/2012 (see, by analogy, judgment of 31 January 2018, Hofsoe, C‑106/17, EU:C:2018:50, paragraph 36).
It is common ground that Section 3 of Chapter II of Regulation No 1215/2012 lays down special rules of jurisdiction in insurance matters, intended to protect the weaker party to the contract by rules which are more favourable to his or her interests than the general rules, as is stated in recital 18 of that regulation (judgment of 31 January 2018, Hofsoe, C‑106/17, EU:C:2018:50, paragraph 39 and the case-law cited).
Third, as regards the objectives underlying Section 3 of Chapter II of Regulation No 1215/2012, the Court has previously held that, where an insurance contract is concluded for the benefit of a third party, a jurisdiction clause inserted in that contract, to which that party has not subscribed, can be relied on against that third party, in the event of a dispute arising from that contract, only if it does not undermine the objective of protecting the economically weaker party (judgment of 12 May 2005, Société financière et industrielle du Peloux, C‑112/03, EU:C:2005:280, paragraph 38).
Thus, the Court has also stated that, in matters relating to insurance, the prorogation of jurisdiction remained strictly circumscribed by the aim of protecting the economically weaker party (judgment of 13 July 2017, Assens Havn, C‑368/16, EU:C:2017:546, paragraph 36).
In that respect, the Court has previously pointed out that a case-by-case assessment of whether a party may be regarded as the economically weaker party would give rise to the risk of legal uncertainty and would be contrary to the objective of Regulation No 1215/2012, set out in recital 15 thereof, which is that the rules of jurisdiction must be highly predictable (see, to that effect, judgment of 20 July 2017, MMA IARD, C‑340/16, EU:C:2017:576, paragraph 34).
That being said, it is settled case-law that the aim of protection underlying Section 3 of Chapter II  of Regulation No 1215/2012 requires that the application of the special rules of jurisdiction laid down in those provisions are not to be extended to persons for whom that protection is not justified (see, to that effect, judgment of 31 January 2018, Hofsoe, C‑106/17, EU:C:2018:50, paragraph 41 and the case-law cited).
Although it follows that no special protection is justified where the parties concerned are insurance professionals, neither of which may be presumed to be in a weaker position than the other (judgment of 31 January 2018, Hofsoe, C‑106/17, EU:C:2018:50, paragraph 42 and the case-law cited), it is common ground that, in the present case, the third party  insured, namely Grifs, is not an insurance professional.