Herbert Weber v Universal Ogden Services Ltd.
Date: 2002-02-27
36 It follows that the answer to the first question must be that work carried out by an employee on fixed or floating installations positioned on or above the part of the continental shelf adjacent to a Contracting State, in the context of the prospecting and/or exploitation of its natural resources, is to be regarded as work carried out in the territory of that State for the purposes of applying Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention.
The second question
38 First of all, it is clear from that case-law that, as regards this type of contract, the place of performance of the obligation upon which the claim is based, as referred to in Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention, must be determined not by reference to the applicable national law in accordance with the conflict rules of the court before which the matter is brought, as is the case for most other contracts (settled case-law since Case 12/76 Tessili [1976] ECR 1473), but by reference to uniform criteria which it is for the Court to lay down on the basis of the scheme and objectives of the Brussels Convention (see, inter alia, Case C-125/92 Mulox IBC [1993] ECR I-4075, paragraphs 10, 11 and 16, Case C-383/95 Rutten [1997] ECR I-57, paragraphs 12 and 13, and Case C-440/97 GIE Groupe Concorde and Others [1999] ECR I-6307, paragraph 14).
39 Secondly, the Court takes the view that the rule on special jurisdiction in Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention is justified by the existence of a particularly close relationship between a dispute and the court best placed, in order to ensure the proper administration of justice and effective organisation of the proceedings, to take cognisance of the matter, and that the courts for the place in which the employee is to carry out the agreed work are best suited to resolving disputes to which the contract of employment might give rise (see, inter alia, Mulox IBC, cited above, paragraph 17, and Rutten, cited above, paragraph 16).
40 Thirdly, in matters relating to contracts of employment, interpretation of Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention must take account of the concern to afford proper protection to the employee as the weaker of the contracting parties from the social point of view. Such protection 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, since that is the place where it is least expensive for the employee to commence or defend court proceedings (see, inter alia, Mulox IBC, paragraphs 18 and 19, and Rutten, paragraph 17).
41 It follows that Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention must be interpreted as meaning that, as regards contracts of employment, the place of performance of the relevant obligation, for the purposes of that provision, is the place where the employee actually performs the work covered by the contract with his employer (Mulox IBC, paragraph 20, Rutten, paragraph 15, and GIE Groupe Concorde, paragraph 14).
42 The Court has also held that, where work is performed in more than one Contracting State, it is important to avoid any multiplication of courts having jurisdiction in order to preclude the risk of irreconcilable decisions and to facilitate the recognition and enforcement of judgments in States other than those in which they were delivered and that, consequently, Article 5(1) of the Brussels 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 (Mulox IBC, paragraphs 21 and 23, and Rutten, paragraph 18).
43 As a result, the Court held, at paragraphs 25 and 26 of its judgment in Mulox IBC, that, in such a case, the place of performance of the obligation characterising the contract of employment, within the meaning of Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention, is the place where or from which the employee principally discharges his obligations towards his employer. It further held that it was necessary to take account of the fact that the work entrusted to the employee was carried out from an office in a Contracting State, where the employee in question had established his residence, from which he worked for his employer and to which he returned after each business trip to another country.
49 The Court's case-law cannot, therefore, be applied in its entirety to the present case. Nevertheless, it remains relevant to the extent that it means that, where a contract of employment is performed in several Contracting States, Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention must - in view of the need to establish the place with which the dispute has the most significant link, so that it is possible to identify the courts best placed to decide the case in order to afford proper protection to the employee as the weaker party to the contract and to avoid multiplication of the courts having jurisdiction - be understood as referring to the place where or from which the employee actually performs the essential part of his duties vis-à-vis his employer. That is the place where it is least expensive for the employee to commence proceedings against his employer or to defend such proceedings and where the courts best suited to resolving disputes relating to the contract of employment are situated (see Rutten, paragraphs 22 to 24).
53 It would only be if, taking account of the facts of the present case, the subject-matter of the dispute were more closely connected with a different place of work that the principle set out in the preceding paragraph would fail to apply.
58 In light of all of the foregoing considerations, the answer to the second question must be that Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention must be interpreted as meaning that where an employee performs the obligations arising under his contract of employment in several Contracting States the place where he habitually works, within the meaning of that provision, is the place where, or from which, taking account of all the circumstances of the case, he in fact performs the essential part of his duties vis-à-vis his employer.
In the case of a contract of employment under which an employee performs for his employer the same activities in more than one Contracting State, it is necessary, in principle, to take account of the whole of the duration of the employment relationship in order to identify the place where the employee habitually works, within the meaning of Article 5(1).
Failing other criteria, that will be the place where the employee has worked the longest.
It will only be otherwise if, in light of the facts of the case, the subject-matter of the dispute is more closely connected with a different place of work, which would, in that case, be the relevant place for the purposes of applying Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention.
In the event that the criteria laid down by the Court of Justice do not enable the national court to identify the habitual place of work, as referred to in Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention, the employee will have the choice of suing his employer either in the courts for the place where the business which engaged him is situated, or in the courts of the Contracting State in whose territory the employer is domiciled.
The third question
59 For this question, it is appropriate first to observe that the object of the Brussels Convention is to determine the jurisdiction of the courts of the Contracting States in the intra-Community legal order in civil and commercial matters with the result that national procedural laws are set aside in matters governed by the convention in favour of the provisions thereof (see Case 25/79 Sanicentral [1979] ECR 3423, paragraph 5).
60 Next, it is appropriate to recall that it is settled case-law that the terms used in Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention must, in matters relating to employment contracts, be interpreted autonomously so as to ensure the full effectiveness and uniform application in all the Contracting States of this convention, whose objectives include unification of the rules on jurisdiction of the Contracting States (see, inter alia, Mulox IBC, cited above, paragraphs 10 and 16, and Rutten, cited above, paragraphs 12 and 13).