Car Trim GmbH v KeySafety Systems Srl.
Date: 2010-02-25
2. The reference was made in the course of proceedings between Car Trim GmbH (‘Car Trim’) and KeySafety Systems Srl (‘KeySafety’) concerning the contractual obligations of the parties in relation to the supply of components for the manufacture of airbag systems.
Legal context
Community legislation
31. In that connection, it should be noted that, for the purposes of identifying the court with jurisdiction in relation to contracts for the sale of goods or the provision of services, Article 5(1) of Regulation No 44/2001 identifies as a connecting factor the obligation which characterises the contract in question (see, to that effect, Case C‑533/07 Falco Privatstiftung and Rabitsch  [2009] ECR I-0000, paragraph 54).
32. In view of that fact, it is therefore necessary to take as a basis the obligation which characterises the contracts at issue. A contract which has as its characteristic obligation the supply of a good will be classified as a ‘sale of goods’ within the meaning of the first indent of Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation No 44/2001. A contract which has as its characteristic obligation the provision of services will be classified as a ‘provision of services’ within the meaning of the second indent of Article 5(1)(b) of that regulation.
39. Furthermore, the Court came to the same conclusion with regard to public procurement contracts. In Case C-300/07 Hans & Christophorus Oymanns  [2009] ECR I-0000, paragraph 64, the Court held that the concept of ‘public supply contracts’ referred to in the first paragraph of Article 1(2)(c) of Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts (OJ 2004 L 134, p. 114) covers the purchase of products, irrespective of whether the product under consideration is supplied to consumers ready-made or after being manufactured in accordance with consumers’ requirements. In paragraph 66 of that judgment, the Court held that, where the goods supplied are individually manufactured and tailored to the needs of each customer, the manufacture of those goods is part of the supply of the goods at issue.
47. In order to answer the question referred, the Court bases its considerations on the origins, objectives and scheme of Regulation No 44/2001 (see Case C-386/05 Color Drack  [2007] ECR I-3699, paragraph 18, and Case C-204/08 Rehder  [2009] ECR I-0000, paragraph 31).
48. It is settled case-law that the rule of special jurisdiction in matters relating to a contract, as set out in Article 5(1) of Regulation No 44/2001, which complements the rule that jurisdiction is generally based on the domicile of the defendant, reflects an objective of proximity and the reason for that rule is the existence of a close link between the contract and the court called upon to hear and determine the case (see Color Drack , paragraph 22, and Rehder , paragraph 32).
49. Regarding the place of performance of ‘the obligation in question’, the first indent of Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation No 44/2001 defines that criterion of a link autonomously in the case of the sale of goods in order to reinforce the primary objective of unification of the rules of jurisdiction whilst ensuring their predictability (see, to that effect, Color Drack , paragraph 24, and Rehder , paragraph 33).
50. In the context of Regulation No 44/2001, that rule of special jurisdiction in matters relating to a contract thus establishes the place of delivery as the autonomous linking factor to apply to all claims founded on one and the same contract for the sale of goods rather than merely to the claims founded on the obligation of delivery itself ( Color Drack , paragraph 26).