Mulox IBC Ltd v Hendrick Geels.
Date: 1993-07-13
10 It is settled case-law that, as far as possible, the Court of Justice will interpret the terms of the Convention autonomously so as to ensure that it is fully effective having regard to the objectives of Article 220 of the EEC Treaty, for the implementation of which it was adopted.
11 That autonomous interpretation alone is capable of ensuring uniform application of the Convention, the objectives of which include unification of the rules on jurisdiction of the Contracting States, so as to avoid as far as possible the multiplication of the bases of jurisdiction in relation to one and the same legal relationship and to reinforce the legal protection available to persons established in the Community by, at the same time, allowing the plaintiff easily to identify the court before which he may bring an action and the defendant reasonably to foresee the court before which he may be sued.
14 However, no such problem arises in relation to contracts of employment. The Court has consistently held that, in view of the specific nature of contracts of that kind (Case 133/81 Ivenel v Schwab [1982] ECR 1891, paragraph 20, Case 266/85 Shenavai v Kreischer [1987] ECR 239, paragraph 11, and Case 32/88 Six Constructions v Humbert [1989] ECR 341, paragraph 10), the obligation to be taken into consideration for the purposes of the application of Article 5(1) of the Convention to contracts of employment is always the obligation which characterizes such contracts, namely the employee' s obligation to carry out the work stipulated.
15 The Court found in Ivenel, Shenavai and Six Constructions, cited above, that such contracts display certain particular features compared with other contracts in that they create a lasting bond which brings the worker to some extent within the organizational framework of the employer' s business and they are linked to the place where the activities are pursued, which determines the application of mandatory rules and collective agreements protecting the employee.
16 It follows that, in the case of a contract of employment, it is appropriate to determine the place of performance of the relevant obligation, for the purposes of applying Article 5(1) of the Convention, by reference not to the applicable national law in accordance with the conflict rules of the court seised but, rather, to uniform criteria which it is for the Court to lay down on the basis of the scheme and the objectives of the Convention.
17 In order specifically to define the place of performance, it must first be noted that, in Ivenel and Shenavai, the Court held that the rule on special jurisdiction in Article 5(1) of the Convention was justified by the existence of a particularly close relationship between a dispute and the court which may most conveniently be called on to take cognizance of the matter. In its judgments in Shenavai and Six Constructions, the Court added that, in view of the particular features of contracts of employment, it is the courts of the place in which the work is to be carried out which are best suited to resolving the disputes to which one or more obligations under such contracts may give rise.
18 Furthermore, in Ivenel and Six Constructions, the Court took the view that, in interpreting that provision of the Convention, account must be taken of the concern to afford proper protection to the party to the contract who is the weaker from the social point of view, in this case the employee.
19 Proper protection of that kind is best assured if disputes relating to a contract of employment fall within the jurisdiction of the courts of the place where the employee discharges his obligations towards his employer. That is the place where it is least expensive for the employee to commence, or defend himself against, court proceedings.
20 It follows that in relation to contracts of employment, the place of performance of the relevant obligation must be interpreted as meaning, for the purposes of Article 5(1) of the Convention, the place where the employee actually performs the work covered by the contract with his employer.
21 Where, as in this case, the work is performed in more than one Contracting State, it is important to interpret the Convention so as to avoid any multiplication of courts having jurisdiction, thereby precluding the risk of irreconcilable decisions and facilitating the recognition and enforcement of judgments in States other than those in which they were delivered (Case C-220/88 Dumez France and Tracoba [1990] ECR I-49, paragraph 18).
22 In that connection, the Court has held that, where various obligations derive from the same contract and form the basis of the plaintiff' s action, it is the principal obligation which must be relied on in order to determine jurisdiction (Shenavai, paragraph 19).
23 It follows that Article 5(1) of the Convention cannot be interpreted as conferring concurrent jurisdiction on the courts of each Contracting State in whose territory the employee performs part of his work.
25 In order to determine the place of performance, which is a matter for the national court, it is necessary to take account of the fact that, in this case, the work entrusted to the employee was carried out from an office in a Contracting State, where the employee had established his residence, from which he performed his work and to which he returned after each business trip. Furthermore, it is open to the national court to take account of the fact that, when the dispute before it arose, the employee was carrying out his work solely in the territory of that Contracting State. In the absence of other determining factors, that place must be deemed, for the purposes of Article 5(1) of the Convention, to be the place of performance of the obligation on which a claim relating to a contract of employment is based.
26 It follows from all the foregoing considerations that Article 5(1) of the Convention must be interpreted as meaning that, in the case of a contract of employment in pursuance of which the employee performs his work in more than one Contracting State, the place of performance of the obligation characterizing the contract, within the meaning of that provision, is the place where or from which the employee principally discharges his obligations towards his employer.
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