Proceedings brought by Vincent Pierre Oberle.
Date: 2018-06-21
32


Moreover, as is apparent from recitals 7 and 67 thereof, that regulation is to apply to successions with cross-border implications. This is the situation in the present case, given that the estate includes assets located in several Member States.
33


As regards, more specifically, the question whether Article 4 of Regulation No 650/2012 determines the international jurisdiction of the courts of the Member States with regard to the issuing of national certificates of succession, it should be borne in mind that, according to the settled case-law of the Court, the provisions relating to the rules on jurisdiction, in so far as they do not expressly refer to the law of the Member States for the purpose of determining their meaning and scope, must be given an autonomous and uniform interpretation throughout the European Union; that interpretation must take into account not only the wording of those provisions but also their context and the objective pursued by the legislation in question (see, to that effect, judgments of 18 December 2014, Sanders and Huber, C‑400/13 and C‑408/13, EU:C:2014:2461, paragraph 24, and of 1 March 2018, Mahnkopf, C‑558/16, EU:C:2018:138, paragraph 32).
44


Accordingly, Article 4 of Regulation No 650/2012 determines the international jurisdiction of the courts of the Member States in relation to proceedings involving measures concerning the succession as a whole, such as, in particular, the issuing of national certificates of succession, irrespective of whether those proceedings are contentious or non-contentious.
45


That interpretation is not undermined by Article 64 of Regulation No 650/2012, inasmuch as that article provides that the European Certificate of Succession is to be issued in the Member State whose courts have jurisdiction under Articles 4, 7, 10 or 11 of that regulation.
46


As was noted by the Advocate General in point 90 of his Opinion, the European Certificate of Succession, which was created by Regulation No 650/2012, is subject to an autonomous legal regime, established by the provisions of Chapter VI of that regulation. Against that background, the aim of Article 64 of that regulation is to explain that both courts and certain other authorities are to have jurisdiction to issue such a certificate of succession while also specifying, making reference to the rules of jurisdiction contained in Articles 4, 7, 10 and 11 of that regulation, the Member State in which the issuing of such a certificate is to take place.
53


In addition, in accordance with the general objective of that regulation, set out in recital 59 thereof, concerning the mutual recognition of decisions given in the Member States in matters of succession, recital 34 of that regulation emphasises that that regulation is seeking to avoid the giving of irreconcilable decisions in different Member States.
54


That objective is connected with the principle of a single estate, given concrete expression in, in particular, Article 23(1) of Regulation No 650/2012, which states that the applicable law under that regulation is intended to govern ‘the succession as a whole’.
55


That principle of a single estate also underpins the rule established in Article 4 of Regulation No 650/2012, inasmuch as that article also states that that rule is to determine the jurisdiction of the courts of the Member States to rule ‘on the succession as a whole’.
56


As was recalled by the Advocate General in points 109 and 110 of his Opinion, the Court has thus already held that an interpretation of the rules of Regulation No 650/2012 which would lead to the fragmentation of the succession would be incompatible with the objectives pursued by that regulation (see, to that effect, judgment of 12 October 2017, Kubicka, C‑218/16, EU:C:2017:755, paragraph 57). Indeed, as one of those objectives is to establish a uniform regime applicable to successions with cross-border implications, achieving that objective involves harmonising the rules relating to the international jurisdiction of the courts of the Member States in both contentious and non-contentious proceedings.