1 This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 1(2)(l) and Article 69(5) of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and acceptance and enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of succession and on the creation of a European Certificate of Succession (OJ 2012 L 201, p. 107).
2 The request has been made in proceedings between R.J.R. and the Registrų centras VĮ (Centre of Registers, Lithuania) concerning the recording, in a land register, of a right of ownership in immovable property located in Lithuania of which R.J.R. is the heir.
3 Recitals 7, 8, 18, 67 and 71 of Regulation No 650/2012 state: ‘(7) The proper functioning of the internal market should be facilitated by removing the obstacles to the free movement of persons who currently face difficulties in asserting their rights in the context of a succession having cross-border implications. In the European area of justice, citizens must be able to organise their succession in advance. The rights of heirs and legatees, of other persons close to the deceased and of creditors of the succession must be effectively guaranteed. (8) In order to achieve those objectives, this Regulation should bring together provisions on jurisdiction, on applicable law, on recognition or, as the case may be, acceptance, enforceability and enforcement of decisions, authentic instruments and court settlements and on the creation of a European Certificate of Succession. … (18) The requirements for the recording in a register of a right in immovable or movable property should be excluded from the scope of this Regulation. It should therefore be the law of the Member State in which the register is kept (for immovable property, the lex rei sitae) which determines under what legal conditions and how the recording must be carried out and which authorities, such as land registers or notaries, are in charge of checking that all requirements are met and that the documentation presented or established is sufficient or contains the necessary information. In particular, the authorities may check that the right of the deceased to the succession property mentioned in the document presented for registration is a right which is recorded as such in the register or which is otherwise demonstrated in accordance with the law of the Member State in which the register is kept. In order to avoid duplication of documents, the registration authorities should accept such documents drawn up in another Member State by the competent authorities whose circulation is provided for by this Regulation. In particular, the European Certificate of Succession issued under this Regulation should constitute a valid document for the recording of succession property in a register of a Member State. This should not preclude the authorities involved in the registration from asking the person applying for registration to provide such additional information, or to present such additional documents, as are required under the law of the Member State in which the register is kept, for instance information or documents relating to the payment of revenue. The competent authority may indicate to the person applying for registration how the missing information or documents can be provided. … (67) In order for a succession with cross-border implications within the [European] Union to be settled speedily, smoothly and efficiently, the heirs, legatees, executors of the will or administrators of the estate should be able to demonstrate easily their status and/or rights and powers in another Member State, for instance in a Member State in which succession property is located. To enable them to do so, this Regulation should provide for the creation of a uniform certificate, the European Certificate of Succession (hereinafter referred to as "the Certificate"), to be issued for use in another Member State. In order to respect the principle of subsidiarity, the Certificate should not take the place of internal documents which may exist for similar purposes in the Member States. … (71) The Certificate should produce the same effects in all Member States. It should not be an enforceable title in its own right but should have an evidentiary effect and should be presumed to demonstrate accurately elements which have been established under the law applicable to the succession or under any other law applicable to specific elements, such as the substantive validity of dispositions of property upon death. The evidentiary effect of the Certificate should not extend to elements which are not governed by this Regulation, such as questions of affiliation or the question whether or not a particular asset belonged to the deceased. …’
4 Article 1 of the regulation, entitled ‘Scope’, reads as follows: ‘1. This Regulation shall apply to succession to the estates of deceased persons. It shall not apply to revenue, customs or administrative matters. 2. The following shall be excluded from the scope of this Regulation: … (k) the nature of rights in rem; and (l) any recording in a register of rights in immovable or movable property, including the legal requirements for such recording, and the effects of recording or failing to record such rights in a register.’
5 Chapter VI of that regulation entitled ‘European Certificate of Succession’, comprises Articles 62 to 73 of the regulation.
6 Under Article 62 of that regulation, entitled ‘Creation of a European Certificate of Succession’: ‘1. This Regulation creates a European Certificate of Succession (hereinafter referred to as “the Certificate”) which shall be issued for use in another Member State and shall produce the effects listed in Article 69. 2. The use of the Certificate shall not be mandatory. 3. The Certificate shall not take the place of internal documents used for similar purposes in the Member States. However, once issued for use in another Member State, the Certificate shall also produce the effects listed in Article 69 in the Member State whose authorities issued it in accordance with this Chapter.’
7 Article 63 of Regulation No 650/2012, entitled ‘Purpose of the Certificate’, is worded as follows: ‘1. The Certificate is for use by heirs … who, in another Member State, need to invoke their status or to exercise respectively their rights as heirs … 2. The Certificate may be used, in particular, to demonstrate one or more of the following: (a) the status and/or the rights of each heir or, as the case may be, each legatee mentioned in the Certificate and their respective shares of the estate; (b) the attribution of a specific asset or specific assets forming part of the estate to the heir(s) or, as the case may be, the legatee(s) mentioned in the Certificate; …’
8 Article 67 of that regulation, entitled ‘Issue of the Certificate’, provides in paragraph 1: ‘The issuing authority shall issue the Certificate without delay in accordance with the procedure laid down in this Chapter when the elements to be certified have been established under the law applicable to the succession or under any other law applicable to specific elements. It shall use the form established in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 81(2).’
9 Article 68 of the regulation entitled ‘Contents of the Certificate’, reads as follows: ‘The Certificate shall contain the following information, to the extent required for the purpose for which it is issued: … (l) the share for each heir and, if applicable, the list of rights and/or assets for any given heir; …’
10 Article 69 of Regulation No 650/2012 entitled ‘Effects of the Certificate’, reads as follows: ‘1. The Certificate shall produce its effects in all Member States, without any special procedure being required. 2. The Certificate shall be presumed to accurately demonstrate elements which have been established under the law applicable to the succession or under any other law applicable to specific elements. The person mentioned in the Certificate as the heir … shall be presumed to have the status mentioned in the Certificate and/or to hold the rights or the powers stated in the Certificate, with no conditions and/or restrictions being attached to those rights or powers other than those stated in the Certificate. … 5. The Certificate shall constitute a valid document for the recording of succession property in the relevant register of a Member State, without prejudice to points (k) and (l) of Article 1(2).’
11 Article 1(5) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1329/2014 of 9 December 2014 establishing the Forms referred to in Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 (OJ 2014 L 359, p. 30) states: ‘The form to be used for the European Certificate of Succession referred to in Article 67(1) of Regulation [No 650/2012] shall be as set out in Annex 5 as Form V.’
12 Form V, set out in Annex 5 to that implementing regulation, sets out the annexes that may be included in the European Certificate of Succession. Those annexes include Annex IV, entitled ‘Status and rights of the heir(s)’.
13 Point 9 of Annex IV contains the statement ‘Asset(s) attributed to the heir and for which certification was requested (please specify asset(s) and indicate all relevant identification details)’.
14 Article 5(2) of the Lietuvos Respublikos nekilnojamojo turto registro įstatymas Nr. I-1539 (Law No. I-1539 of the Republic of Lithuania on the land register) of 24 September 1996 (Žin, 1996, No. 100-2261), as amended by Law No XII-1833 of 23 June 2015 (‘the Land Register Act’), states that the body keeping the land register shall be responsible, in accordance with that act, for the accuracy and protection of the data kept in that register. According to that provision, that body is responsible only for ensuring that the data entered in that register are in accordance with the documents on the basis of which the entry in that register was made.
15 Article 22 of that act governs the legal bases for the recording in the land register of rights in rem in immovable property, limitations of such rights and legal facts. It contains a list of the documents used to prove the creation of rights in rem in immovable property or legal facts on the basis of which those rights, restrictions on them or those legal facts are recorded in the land register, setting out, inter alia, decisions by public authorities, decrees, judgments, orders and court decisions as well as certificates of succession.
16 Article 23 of that act lays down the detailed rules for the submission of applications for registration of rights in rem in immovable property, restrictions on such rights and legal facts. Paragraph 2 thereof provides that the application must be accompanied by documents certifying that a right in rem has arisen, the restriction of that right or the legal fact whose registration is requested. Article 23(3) states that documents on the basis of which rights in rem in immovable property, restrictions on such rights and legal facts are certified, come into being, terminate, are transferred or are restricted must meet the legal requirements and contain the information necessary for entry in the land register. Under the said Article 23(4), the documents on the basis of which an application for an entry in the register is made must be legible and must include the first names and full surnames, titles, addresses and identification numbers of the persons concerned by that registration and the unique number of the building concerned, which is allocated in accordance with the Lietuvos Respublikos nekilnojamojo turto kadastro nuostatai (Real Property Register Regulations of the Republic of Lithuania).
17 According to Article 29 of the Land Register Act, the body keeping the land register must refuse to register rights in rem in immovable property, restrictions on such rights and legal facts if it finds, on examination of the application for entry in the register, that the document submitted in support of that application does not meet the requirements of that act, or that the application or the document provided to that body does not contain the information required by the Nekilnojamojo turto registro nuostatai (Land Register Regulations) to identify the immovable property or the persons who have acquired the right in rem in the immovable property.
18 The Land Register Regulations, adopted by the Lietuvos Respublikos vyriausybės nutarimas Nr. 379 ‘Dėl Nekilnojamojo turto registro nuostatų patvirtinimo’ (Government Decree No 379 of the Republic of Lithuania approving the Real Property Register Regulations) of 23 April 2014 (TAR, 2014, No 2014-4930), states in Article 14.2.2 that the information identifying immovable property is the cadastral locality, the cadastral section, the cadastral number of the parcel, the unique number (identification number) of the parcel, the unique number (identification number) of the building and the unique number (identification number) of the apartment or premises.
19 The applicant in the main proceedings, R.J.R., resides in Germany.
20 At the time of her death on 6 December 2015, the mother of the applicant in the main proceedings (‘the deceased’) was also habitually resident in Germany. The applicant in the main proceedings, who is her sole heir, accepted without reservation the succession to the estate of the deceased in Germany. He applied to the competent German authority in order to obtain a European Certificate of Succession, as that estate included property located not only in Germany but also in Lithuania.
21 On 24 September 2018, the Amtsgericht Bad Urach (Local Court, Bad Urach, Germany) issued to the applicant in the main proceedings (i) a certificate of inheritance No 1 VI 174/18, in which it was stated that G.R., who had died on 10 May 2014, had left his estate to the deceased as his sole heir, and (ii) European Certificate of Succession No 1 VI 175/18, in which it was stated that the deceased had left her estate to the applicant in the main proceedings, who was her sole heir and who accepted the succession without reservation.
22 On 15 March 2019, the applicant in the main proceedings applied to the Centre of Registers, the state body responsible, inter alia, for keeping the cadastral register and land register in Lithuania, for his right of ownership of the immovable property which had belonged to the deceased in Lithuania to be recorded in the register. In support of his application, he submitted the certificate of inheritance and the European Certificate of Succession referred to in the preceding paragraph.
23 By decision of 20 March 2019, the Tauragė Division of the Land Register department of the Property Registry Service of the Centre of Registers rejected that application, on the ground that that European Certificate of Succession did not contain the information necessary for the identification of the immovable property laid out in the Land Registry Act, namely that it did not indicate the assets inherited by the applicant in the main proceedings.
24 The latter filed a complaint against that that rejection decision with the Disputes Commission of the central registration office of the Centre of Registers which, by decision of 9 May 2019, confirmed that rejection decision.
25 The applicant in the main proceedings brought an appeal against those decisions before the Regionų apygardos administracinio teismo Klaipėdos rūmai (Chamber of the Regional Administrative Court of the Regions, Klaipėda, Lithuania) which dismissed the appeal as unfounded by judgment of 30 December 2019.
26 The applicant in the main proceedings brought an appeal against that judgment before the Lietuvos vyriausiasis administracinis teismas (Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania), the referring court. The referring court considers that the dispute before it raises questions concerning the interpretation of Regulation No 650/2012.
27 That court observes that, under Article 69(5) of Regulation No 650/2012, a European Certificate of Succession constitutes a valid document for the recording of succession property in the relevant register of a Member State, without prejudice to Article 1(2)(k) and (l) of that regulation, that is to say, that that certificate has no bearing on the application of Article 1(2)(l). According to that court, the latter provision, which excludes from the scope of that regulation any recording in a register of rights in immovable or movable property, means that the grant of a European Certificate of Succession does not in itself have the effect of rendering inapplicable the conditions for recording in the land register, laid down by the law of the Member State in which the property is situated.
28 In that regard, the referring court notes that, in Lithuania, the documents on the basis of which rights in rem in immovable property can be recorded in the register are listed in Article 22 of the Land Register Act and that Article 23(2) to (4) of that act stipulates in mandatory terms what information and data those documents must certify. The Centre of Registers acts solely by virtue of the powers conferred on it by law, which does not confer on it the power to establish the scope of property rights itself nor to gather information and evidence attesting to the existence or otherwise of certain facts.
29 That court states that, consequently, pursuant to the rules of Lithuanian law, the information required for recording rights in the land register can be provided only in the documents listed in Article 22 of the Land Registry Act and that, where the information provided is incomplete, the Centre of Registers has no power to take into account information other than that contained in those documents.
30 That court adds that, in order to produce its effects, a European Certificate of Succession must be drawn up using Form V in Annex 5 to Implementing Regulation No 1329/2014. Consequently, if the information referred to in the applicable provisions of Regulation No 650/2012 and of Implementing Regulation No 1329/2014 is provided in the European Certificate of Succession, that certificate would be regarded in Lithuania as a valid document on the basis of which the devolution of the property would be recorded in the land register, as provided for in Article 69(5) of Regulation No 650/2012.
31 The referring court notes that the European Certificate of Succession at issue in the main proceedings was drawn up using that Form V and that it includes Annex IV to that form, certifying the status and rights of the heir. It adds, however, that, in point 9 of Annex IV, no information was provided to identify the asset(s) attributed to the heir for whom certification was requested.
32 That court notes that it follows from the arguments put forward by the applicant in the main proceedings and the German case-law which he cites that the authority which issued that European Certificate of Succession did not inadvertently fail to provide that information. The applicant in the main proceedings claims, in particular, that German law of succession is governed by the principle of universal succession and consequently, where there is a single heir, he or she inherits the deceased’s entire estate and it is not possible to indicate or designate in any way the succession property. Thus, in the view of the applicant, it is settled case-law that the German courts would therefore disapply Article 68(l) of Regulation No 650/2012, which provides that the European Certificate of Succession must indicate the share for each heir and, where appropriate, the list of rights and/or assets for any given heir.
33 In the light of the objectives pursued by the creation of the European Certificate of Succession and, in particular, of ensuring that successions with cross-border implications within the European Union are dealt with quickly, easily and efficiently, the referring court is uncertain as to the interpretation of Article 1(2)(l) and Article 69(5) of Regulation No 650/2012, in particular as regards the relationship between those provisions and those of the national law of the Member State, in which the succession property at issue is situated, governing the conditions relating to the recording of a right of ownership in the land register.
34 In those circumstances, the Lietuvos vyriausiasis administracinis teismas (Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania) decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following question to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling: ‘Must Article 1(2)(1) and Article 69(5) of Regulation [No 650/2012] be interpreted as not precluding legal rules of the Member State in which the immovable property is situated under which the rights of ownership can be recorded in the land register on the basis of a European Certificate of Succession only in the case where all of the details necessary for that recording are set out in that European Certificate of Succession?’
35 In the present case, as is apparent from the order for reference, the request of the applicant in the main proceedings to have his right of ownership of property situated in Lithuania recorded in the Lithuanian land register was rejected on the ground that the European Certificate of Succession submitted in support of that application did not contain any information relating to that property. In those circumstances, in order to provide a useful answer to the referring court, it is necessary to reformulate the question referred so that it also relates to Article 68 of Regulation No 650/2012 since, as is apparent from the title of that article, it specifically concerns the content of such a certificate. It is settled case-law that it is for the Court to extract from all the information provided by the referring court, in particular from the grounds of the decision to make the reference, the points of EU law which require interpretation in view of the subject matter of the dispute (see, to that effect, judgment of 16 November 2021, Governor of Cloverhill Prison and Others, C‑479/21 PPU, EU:C:2021:929, paragraph 39 and the case-law cited).
36 Thus, by its question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 1(2)(l), Article 68(l) and Article 69(5) of Regulation No 650/2012 must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State which provides that an application for recording immovable property in the land register of that Member State may be rejected where the only document submitted in support of that application is a European Certificate of Succession which does not identify that immovable property.
37 It should be recalled at the outset that Article 1 of Regulation No 650/2012, after defining in its paragraph 1 the scope of that regulation, lists exhaustively in its paragraph 2 the matters excluded from that scope, including, in Article 1(2)(l), ‘any recording in a register of rights in immovable or movable property, including the legal requirements for such recording, and the effects of recording or failing to record such rights in a register’.
38 Article 69(5) of Regulation No 650/2012 states that the European Certificate of Succession is to constitute a valid document for the recording of succession property in the relevant register of a Member State, without prejudice to points (k) and (l) of Article 1(2) of the regulation. For its part, Article 68 of that regulation provides that that certificate is to contain certain information in so far as it is necessary for the purpose for which it is issued and, in particular, in accordance with Article 68(l), the share for each heir and, if applicable, the list of rights and/or assets for any given heir.
39 Thus, in order to assess whether the obligation to include, in a European Certificate of Succession, a list of assets for the heir concerned, as provided for in Article 68(l) of Regulation No 650/2012, is imposed on the issuing authority of such a certificate not only in the case of a succession concerning numerous heirs, but also in the case of a succession involving a single heir, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, Article 68(l) of that regulation must be interpreted in the light of the relationship between Article 1(2)(l) and Article 69(5) of that regulation, in the light of the general framework of which those provisions form part.
40 In that regard, it should be recalled that the European Certificate of Succession constitutes an autonomous instrument of EU law, the use and effects of which are regulated in detail in the provisions of Regulation No 650/2012. In particular, the Court has already stated that that certificate, which was created by that regulation, enjoys an autonomous legal regime established by the provisions of Chapter VI of that regulation (judgment of 21 June 2018, Oberle, C‑20/17, EU:C:2018:485, paragraph 46).
41 The abovementioned provisions of Regulation No 650/2012, referred to in paragraph 39 of the present judgment, must be interpreted in the light of the objectives pursued by that regulation, which is intended, as is apparent from recitals 7 and 8 thereof, to help heirs and legatees, other persons close to the deceased and creditors of the estate to assert their rights in the context of a succession with cross-border implications and to enable Union citizens to prepare their succession (see, to that effect, judgment of 21 June 2018, Oberle, C‑20/17, EU:C:2018:485, paragraph 49).
42 It is from that point of view that, by Regulation No 650/2012, the EU legislature created the European Certificate of Succession, the purpose of which, according to recital 67 of that regulation, is to enable, inter alia, heirs to demonstrate easily their status and/or rights and powers in another Member State in order to settle speedily, smoothly and efficiently a succession with cross-border implications within the European Union.
43 In that regard, Article 63(1) of Regulation No 650/2012 provides that the European Certificate of Succession is for use by heirs who, in another Member State, need to invoke their status or to exercise their rights as heirs. In accordance with Article 63(2)(a) and (b), that certificate may be used, in particular, to prove the status and/or rights of each heir mentioned in that certificate and the attribution of a specific asset or specific assets forming part of the estate to the heir(s).
44 As regards the effects of the European Certificate of Succession, as is apparent from Article 69(1) and recital 71 of Regulation No 650/2012, that certificate should produce the same effects in all Member States, without any special procedure being required. In accordance with Article 69(2) of that regulation, that certificate shall be presumed to accurately demonstrate elements which have been established under the law applicable to the succession or under any other law applicable to specific elements. The person mentioned in the certificate as the heir is to be presumed to have the status mentioned in the certificate and/or to hold the rights or the powers stated in the certificate, with no conditions and/or restrictions being attached to those rights or powers other than those stated in the certificate. Thus, where a European Certificate of Succession is issued to an heir in the Member State of the habitual residence of the deceased, that heir may use it in the other Member States in which the deceased’s assets are located.
45 As regards, in particular, a situation in which the European Certificate of Succession is presented as the document on the basis of which registration of inherited real property is sought, it should be noted that Article 68 of Regulation No 650/2012 provides for a minimum of information to be included in that certificate. The content of the certificate may vary from case to case depending on the purposes for which it is issued.
46 In that regard, it should be noted that, in accordance with Article 67(1) of Regulation No 650/2012 and as the Court has already held, the issuing authority must use Form V, provided for in Annex 5 to Implementing Regulation No 1329/2014, for the purposes of issuing that certificate (see, to that effect, judgment of 17 January 2019, Brisch, C‑102/18, EU:C:2019:34, paragraph 30).
47 That said, it should also be recalled that, as is apparent from paragraph 38 of the present judgment, Article 69(5) of Regulation No 650/2012 provides that a European Certificate of Succession constitutes a valid document for the recording of succession property in the relevant register of a Member State, without prejudice, in particular, to Article 1(2)(l) of that regulation, the latter provision stating, as the Court has already held, that any recording in a register of rights in immovable or movable property, including the legal requirements for such recording and the effects of recording or failing to record those rights in a register, is excluded from the scope of that regulation (see, to that effect, judgment of 12 October 2017, Kubicka, C‑218/16, EU:C:2017:755, paragraph 54).
48 The fact that such legal requirements are thus governed by national law is also apparent from recital 18 of Regulation No 650/2012, according to which the requirements relating to the recording in a register of a right in immovable or movable property are excluded from the scope of that regulation, such that it is the law of the Member State in which the register is kept which determines under what legal conditions and how the recording must be carried out and which authorities, such as land registers or notaries, are in charge of checking that all requirements are met and that the documentation presented or established is sufficient or contains the necessary information.
49 Consequently, the provisions of Regulation No 650/2012 establishing the European Certificate of Succession and, more specifically, Article 69(5) of that regulation, read in conjunction with Article 1(2)(l) thereof, to which the former provision refers, do not prevent a Member State laying down or applying the requirements to be complied with for the purposes of registering rights in rem in immovable property.
50 In that regard, each Member State in which such registration of rights in rem in immovable property is provided for is free to determine the conditions and how that recording, including the imposition of a requirement that all identifying data of an immovable property for which an application for registration is made must be provided in that application or in the accompanying documents.
51 Consequently, in a situation where an authority responsible for the registration of a right in rem in immoveable property receives an application for registration of inherited immovable property, without that property being identified in a document on the basis of which that registration is sought, including in the European Certificate of Succession presented, it follows from the foregoing that that authority may reject such an application.
52 It should be noted, in that regard, that the rejection of an application for registration of immovable property in a land register of a Member State, based on a European Certificate of Succession, on the ground that that certificate does not contain data relating to the identification of that property, does not call into question the validity of that certificate as such as regards the other elements which it certifies, such as the status of heir.
53 In the light of all the foregoing considerations, the answer to the question referred is that Article 1(2)(l), Article 68(l) and Article 69(5) of Regulation No 650/2012 must be interpreted as not precluding legislation of a Member State which provides that an application for registration of immovable property in the land register of that Member State may be rejected where the only document submitted in support of that application is a European Certificate of Succession which does not identify that immovable property.
54 Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before the national court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court. Costs incurred in submitting observations to the Court, other than the costs of those parties, are not recoverable.