Data Delecta Aktiebolag and Ronny Forsberg v MSL Dynamics Ltd.
Date: 1996-09-26
12 It is settled case-law that, whilst, in the absence of Community legislation, it is for each Member State' s legal system to lay down the detailed procedural rules governing legal proceedings for fully safeguarding the rights which individuals derive from Community law, that law nevertheless imposes limits on that competence (Joined Cases C-6/90 and C-9/90 Francovich and Others [1991] ECR I-5357, paragraph 42). Such legislative provisions may not discriminate against persons to whom Community law gives the right to equal treatment or restrict the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by Community law (Case 186/87 Cowan v Trésor Public [1989] ECR 195, paragraph 19).
13 A national procedural rule, such as the one described above, is liable to affect the economic activity of traders from other Member States on the market of the State in question. Although it is, as such, not intended to regulate an activity of a commercial nature, it has the effect of placing such traders in a less advantageous position than nationals of that State as regards access to its courts. Since Community law guarantees such traders free movement of goods and services in the common market, it is a corollary of those freedoms that they must be able, in order to resolve any disputes arising from their economic activities, to bring actions in the courts of a Member State in the same way as nationals of that State.
14 As the Court held in Joined Cases C-92/92 and C-326/92 Phil Collins and Others [1993] ECR I-5145, paragraph 27, national legislative provisions which fall within the scope of application of the Treaty are, by reason of their effects on intra-Community trade in goods and services, necessarily subject to the general principle of non-discrimination laid down by the first paragraph of Article 6 of the Treaty, without there being any need to connect them with the specific provisions of Articles 30, 36, 59 and 66 of the Treaty.
15 It must therefore be held that a rule of domestic civil procedure, such as the one at issue in the main proceedings, falls within the scope of the Treaty within the meaning of the first paragraph of Article 6 and is subject to the general principle of non-discrimination laid down by that article in so far as it has an effect, even though indirect, on trade in goods and services between Member States. Such an effect is liable to arise in particular where security for costs is required where proceedings are brought to recover payment for the supply of goods.
Discrimination within the meaning of the first paragraph of Article 6 of the Treaty
17 A provision such as the one at issue in the main proceedings manifestly constitutes direct discrimination on grounds of nationality.
22 Accordingly, the reply to be given to the national court' s question is that the first paragraph of Article 6 of the Treaty precludes a Member State from requiring a legal person established in another Member State, who has brought before one of its own courts an action against one of its own nationals or a company established on its own territory, to lodge security for the costs of those proceedings where no such requirement can be imposed on legal persons established in the first-mentioned State and where the action is concerned with the exercise of fundamental freedoms guaranteed by Community law.