Sophia Marie Nicole Sanders v David Verhaegen and Barbara Huber v Manfred Huber.
Date: 2014-12-18
24. It should also be recalled that it is settled case-law that the provisions relating to the rules on jurisdiction must be interpreted independently, by reference, first, to the objectives and scheme of the regulation under consideration and, secondly, to the general principles which stem from the corpus of the national legal systems (see, by analogy, judgments in Cartier parfums-lunettes and Axa Corporate Solutions assurances , C‑1/13, EU:C:2014:109, paragraph 32 and the case-law cited, and flyLAL-Lithuanian Airlines , C‑302/13, EU:C:2014:2319, paragraph 24 and the case-law cited).
27. Secondly, recital 15 in the preamble to the regulation states that the rules on jurisdiction as they result from Regulation No 44/2001 should be adapted in order to preserve the interests of maintenance creditors and to promote the proper administration of justice within the European Union.
28. As regards the rules on jurisdiction in cross-border disputes concerning maintenance obligations, the Court has stated, in the context of Article 5(2) of the Brussels Convention, that the derogation relating to the rules on jurisdiction in matters relating to maintenance obligations is intended to offer special protection to the maintenance creditor, who is regarded as the weaker party in such proceedings (see, to that effect, judgments in Farrell , C‑295/95, EU:C:1997:168, paragraph 19, and Blijdenstein , C‑433/01, EU:C:2004:21, paragraphs 29 and 30). The rules on jurisdiction provided for in Regulation No 4/2009, like the rule set out in Article 5(2) of the Brussels Convention, are intended to ensure proximity between the creditor and the competent court, as indeed the Advocate General has observed at point 49 of his Opinion.
30. Article 3(b) of Regulation No 4/2009 specifies the criterion for identifying the court which has jurisdiction to rule on cross-border disputes concerning maintenance obligations, namely, ‘the place where the creditor is habitually resident’. That provision, which determines both international and territorial jurisdiction, seeks to unify the rules of conflict of jurisdiction (see, to that effect, judgment in Color Drack , C‑386/05, EU:C:2007:262, paragraph 30).
32. In this connection, it should be stated that, although the rules of conflict of jurisdiction have been harmonised by the determination of common connecting factors, the identification of the competent court remains a matter for the Member States (see, to that effect, judgments in Mulox IBC , C‑125/92, EU:C:1993:306, paragraph 25, and GIE Groupe Concorde and Others , C‑440/97, EU:C:1999:456, paragraph 31), provided that the national legislation does not undermine the objectives of Regulation No 4/2009 or render it ineffective (see, inter alia, to that effect, judgment in Zuid-Chemie , C‑189/08, EU:C:2009:475, paragraph 30, and, by analogy, judgment in C. , C‑92/12 PPU, EU:C:2012:255, paragraph 79).
41. Accordingly, in the second place, it is appropriate to examine whether national legislation such as that at issue in the main proceedings may undermine the objective pursued by Regulation No 4/2009, which is to facilitate as far as possible the recovery of international maintenance claims, in so far as it may render the procedure more cumbersome by causing the parties to spend a considerable amount of additional time.