In Roonse Recycling & Serice BV v BSS Heavy Machinery GmbH, the Court at Rotterdam first of all discussed the factual circumstance of a possible choice of court agreement between parties, in favour of the courts at Eberswalde (Germany). Such choice of court is made in the general terms and conditions of seller, BSS. whether parties had actually agreed to these, was in dispute. Roonse suggests the reference on the front page of the order form to the general terms and conditions on the backside (‘umseitiger‘) was without subject for that back page was blank. The court therefore suggests that agreement depends on whether, as was suggested, the standard terms and conditions were attached (stapled, presumably) to the order form. Whether this was the case is a factual consideration which Rotterdam does not further entertain for even if the choice of court agreement is invalid, the court found it would not have jurisdiction under the only other alternative: Article 7(1) special jurisdictional rule for ‘contracts’.
Roonse suggest that the parties had agreed that the contract, a delivery of good, is performed in Rotterdam for that, it argues, is where delivery took place per the Incoterm CPT (carriage paid to). The CJEU has flagged the inconclusive effect of the mere use of Incoterms for the purposes of finding an agreement between parties under Article 7, in Electrosteel Case C-87/10 (in that case with respect to the use of ‘ex works’) and has generally insisted, per Car Trim Case C-381/08 that the courts need to make reference to all relevant terms and conditions in the agreement so as to determine the place of delivery.
Rotterdam in casu held the Incoterm CPT Rotterdam as being mostly a reference to costs, not place of delivery. Where it is impossible to determine the place of delivery on that basis, without reference to the substantive law applicable to the contract, that place at least for the sale of goods, the CJEU held, is the place where the physical transfer of the goods took place, as a result of which the purchaser obtained, or should have obtained, actual power of disposal over those goods at the final destination of the sales transaction. In casu, this was found to be in the geographical jurisdiction of the courts at Den Haag. Given that Article 7(1) does not merely identify the courts of a Member State but rather a specific court within a Member State, Rotterdam has no jurisdiction.
The case is a good reminder of the limited power of Incoterms to determine jurisdiction. Better have a specific choice of court clause (which here may or may not have presented itself here in the general terms and conditions of seller).
Geert.
Uno degli obiettivi sottesi all’imminente riforma del regolamento n. 861/2007, istitutivo del procedimento europeo per le controversie di modesta entità, segnalata in un post recente, è quello di assicurare a tale modello, nella pratica, una fortuna maggiore di quella registratasi in questi anni.
Poche, specie in Italia, sono infatti le decisioni pubblicate, rese in applicazione del regolamento, che pure è applicabile dal 1° gennaio 2009.
Vale dunque la pena di dar conto, a titolo di esempio, di un provvedimento pronunciato sulla base del regolamento n. 861/2007, segnalato alla redazione di Aldricus dall’avv. Grazia Ferdenzi di Parma. Si tratta della decisione con cui il 6 febbraio 2014 il Giudice di pace di Parma ha condannato la compagnia aerea EasyJet al pagamento di una somma per il ritardo prolungato subito da alcuni passeggeri.
Questi ultimi avevano basato le proprie richieste sul regolamento n. 261/2004 che istituisce regole comuni in materia di compensazione ed assistenza ai passeggeri in caso di negato imbarco, di cancellazione del volo o di ritardo prolungato, ed avevano convenuto la compagnia aerea di fronte al Giudice di pace di Parma instaurando, appunto, un procedimento europeo per le controversie di modesta entità.
Nella domanda, redatta compilando il Modulo A allegato al regolamento n. 861/2007 (tutti i formulari relativi al procedimento sono reperibili qui), gli attori hanno invocato, per affermare la giurisdizione italiana, le norme europee che disciplinano la competenza giurisdizionale in materia di contratti conclusi con in consumatori. Se è pur vero che il passeggero, in Italia, può essere associato alla figura del consumatore (tanto che sono proprio le associazioni a protezione dei consumatori che si occupano di salvaguardare i diritti dei passeggeri di trasporti aerei alla luce della normativa europea), ai fini dell’individuazione dell’organo competente in controversie a carattere transnazionale che coinvolgano un consumatore, questa nozione deve essere intesa in maniera autonoma.
L’art. 15, par. 3 (“competenza in materia di contratti conclusi dai consumatori”), del regolamento (CE) n. 44/2001 concernente la competenza giurisdizionale, il riconoscimento e l’esecuzione delle decisioni in materia civile e commerciale (qui applicabile ratione temporis, oggi sostituito dal regolamento (UE) n. 1215/2012), esclude espressamente l’applicazione della sezione relativa ai contratti conclusi da consumatori “ai contratti di trasporto che non prevedono prestazioni combinate di trasporto e di alloggio per un prezzo globale”.
Varrebbe, semmai, il foro del contratto, come determinato in base all’art. 5, punto 1, del regolamento (CE) n. 44/2001. Nello specifico, nel caso Peter Rehder (9 luglio 2009, causa C‑204/08), la Corte di giustizia ha chiarito che il contratto di trasporto concluso con una compagnia aerea deve essere interpretato quale contratto di prestazione di servizi, ai fini del quale la competenza giurisdizionale deve essere individuata nell’autorità giurisdizionale del luogo “situato in uno Stato membro, in cui i servizi sono stati o avrebbero dovuto essere prestati in base al contratto” (art. 5, punto 1, lett. b), secondo trattino). Ciò premesso, la Corte ha specificato che il giudice competente a conoscere di una domanda di compensazione pecuniaria basata sul contratto di trasporto concluso da un passeggero con una compagnia aerea e sul regolamento (CE) n. 261/2004, che istituisce regole comuni in materia di compensazione ed assistenza ai passeggeri in caso di negato imbarco, di cancellazione del volo o di ritardo prolungato, è quello “a scelta dell’attore, nella cui circoscrizione si trovano il luogo di partenza o il luogo di arrivo dell’aereo quali indicati in detto contratto”.
Negli atti del procedimento dinanzi al Giudice di Parma, rileva anche il fatto che il provvedimento non sia stato emesso mediante la compilazione del Modulo D, come (non solo raccomandato, ma) formalmente prescritto dal regolamento n. 861/2007. La mancata osservanza della forma pregiudica l’elevato grado di standardizzazione che connota questo regolamento e, di conseguenza, la circolazione delle decisioni emesse all’esito del relativo procedimento.
In Chevron Corp v Yaiguaje, the Canadian Supreme Court confirmed the country’s flexible approach to the jurisdictional stage of recognition and enforcement actions. I have reported on the case’s overall background before. More detail on the case is provided here by Border Ladner Gervais, as do McMillan (adding a critical note) here, and I am happy to refer – suffice to say on this blog that an accommodating approach to the very willingness of courts to entertain a recognition and enforcement action is not as such unusual to my knowledge. It is very much a case of comity to at least not blankly refuse to hear the case for enforcing a judgment issued by a foreign court.
Much more challenging will be the merits of the case, for one imagines the usual arguments against will certainly exercise the Canadian courts.
Finally, even if Chevron assets in Canada were not to suffice to meet the considerable award (in particular if the courts further down the line were to keep the mother company out of the action), any success in Canadian courts, however small, no doubt will serve applicants’ case for recognition in other jurisdictions.
Geert.
Il terzo fascicolo del 2015 di Internationales Handelsrecht ospita un articolo di Kasper Steensgaard intitolato Battle of the forms under the CISG – one or more solutions? (p. 89-94), dedicato alle soluzioni ricavabili dalla Convenzione di Vienna sulla compravendita internazionale di beni mobili del 1980 (CISG) circa il conflitto fra condizioni generali di contratto, o “battaglia dei formulari”, cioè la situazione che si verifica allorché, in sede di formazione del contratto, le parti si richiamino a condizioni generali fra loro divergenti.
Il problema, che dev’essere affrontato nell’ottica dell’art. 19 CISG, relativo all’accettazione della proposta contrattuale, consiste fondamentalmente nello stabilire se per effetto dell’emissione di dichiarazioni negoziali corredate da un richiamo alle rispettive condizioni generali, si sia formato un vincolo contrattuale fra le parti e, laddove la risposta sia positiva, quale ne sia il contenuto.
L’autore dell’articolo, attraverso un’indagine incentrata soprattutto sulla giurisprudenza sviluppata negli Stati Uniti e in Germania, analizza le due principali soluzioni proposte in quest’ambito, costituite, rispettivamente, dalla last-shot rule e dalla knock-out rule.
La prima soluzione è, per Steensgaard, quella preferibile, trattandosi del derivato “logico e naturale” del principio della corrispondenza fra proposta e accettazione (“mirror image principle”), sancito all’art. 19, par. 1, CISG. Di fatto, l’oblato, quando replica alla proposta richiamando le proprie divergenti condizioni generali, emette una controproposta: se l’offerente non reagisce, la dichiarazione negoziale dell’oblato (il “last shot”), se seguita dall’accettazione anche tacita dell’altra parte, condurrà alla conclusione di un contratto conforme agli standard terms richiamati dallo stesso oblato. Questi, in pratica, delinea i contenuti del contratto, in assenza di obiezioni ad opera dell’altra parte, mediante il richiamo alle proprie condizioni. Una simile conclusione si impone, peraltro, solo quando alla parte che finisce col soccombere nella “battaglia” delle condizioni generali sia imputabile un’accettazione almeno implicita, ad esempio mediante fatti concludenti, non essendo sufficiente a questo fine una mera inerzia.
La seconda soluzione, vale a dire la knock-out rule, implica invece un raffronto tra proposta e accettazione allo scopo di estrapolare dalle condizioni generali di entrambe le parti tutti e soltanto gli elementi comuni, che costituiranno il contratto, estromettendo i termini divergenti, i quali verranno sostituiti dal corrispondente regime legale. Senonché, stando all’autore dell’articolo, la knock-out rule, che pure ha il pregio di valorizzare il consenso delle parti, mal si concilia con i dati offerti dalla Convenzione.
A tal proposito, merita di essere segnalato il contrario parere del CISG Advisory Council (Opinion No 13, punto 10), favorevole al knock-out approach, in linea con quanto previsto in materia dai Principi Unidroit e nonostante il potenziale contrasto con la lettera dell’art. 19 CISG. L’applicabilità della knock-out rule viene giustificata facendo leva sull’art. 6 CISG, che consente alle parti di derogare la Convenzione, valorizzando la loro autonomia come principio generale della CISG: se esse concordano sull’applicazione di alcuni termini, comuni ad entrambe, e manifestano la volontà di incorporarli nel contratto, tale loro accordo prevale sulla CISG.
Ulteriori informazioni sul fascicolo, compreso il sommario, sono reperibili a questo indirizzo.
Intellectual Property and Private International Law, a cura di Paul Torremans, Edward Elgar, 2015, pp. 880, ISBN 9781783471423, GBP 265.
[Dal sito dell’editore] This collection, made possible by the recent convergence of intellectual property and private international law as critical disciplines, brings together the most important papers on these now linked subjects. More and more issues of private international law arise in the area of intellectual property, and the articles selected chart the route that both disciplines have covered together, discussing bridges built and dead-ends reached. Also looking forward to the future of the subject, with an original introduction by Professor Paul Torremans, Intellectual Property and Private International Law will prove to be an essential research tool for all students, academics and practitioners working in this fast-developing area.
Maggiori informazioni, compreso il sommario dell’opera, sono disponibili a questo indirizzo.
The exam season is over, otherwise Goldhar v Haaretz would have made a great case for comparative analysis. Instead this can now feed into class materials. This is an interlocutory judgment on the basis of lack of jurisdiction and /or abuse of process. Plaintiff lives in Toronto. He is a billionaire who owns i.a. Maccabi Tel Aviv. (Chelsea’s first opponent in the Champions League. But that’s obviously an aside). Mr Goldhar visits Israel about five or six times per year. Defendant is Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. which publishes Haaretz, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper (market share about 7%). It also publishes an English language print edition. Haaretz is published online in both English and Hebrew.
Haaretz published a very critical article on Mr Goldhar in November 2011. The print version was not published in Canada, in either English or Hebrew. However, Haaretz was made available internationally on its website in Israel in both Hebrew and English – the judgment does not say so specifically however I assume this was both on the .co.il site – even if currently Haaretz’ EN site is available via a .com site.
Information provided by the defendants reveals that there were 216 unique visits to the Article in its online form in Canada. Testimony further showed that indeed a number of people in Canada read the article – this was sufficient for Faieta J to hold that a tort was committed in Ontario and thus a presumptive connecting factor exists. Presumably this means that the court (and /or Canadian /Ontario law with which I am not au fait) view the locus delicti commissi (‘a tort was committed’) as Canada – a conclusion not all that obvious to me (I would have assumed Canada is locus damni only). Per precedent, the absence of a substantial publication of the defamatory material in Canada was not found to be enough to rebut the finding of jurisdiction.
Forum non conveniens was dismissed on a variety of grounds, including applicable law being the law of Ontario (again Ontario is identified as the locus delicti commissi: at 48). Plaintiff will have to cover costs for the appearance, in Canada, of defendants’ witnesses. Importantly, plaintiff will also only be able to seek damages for reputational harm suffered within Canada.
I can see this case (and the follow-up in substance) doing the rounds of conflicts classes.
Geert.
È ora disponibile il programma dell’incontro del 2 ottobre 2015 — già segnalato in questo post — dal titolo Libera circolazione e riconoscimento delle famiglie: profili di diritto internazionale privato, tutela dei diritti e ordinamento interno.
L’evento si terrà presso l’Università degli studi di Milano ed è organizzato nell’ambito del modulo Jean Monnet on European Family Law di cui è titolare Chiara Ragni, in cooperazione con la Rivista GenIUS.
Il convegno si articolerà in tre sessioni. La prima, dedicata a Diritti umani e diritto internazionale privato, introdotta e presieduta da Nerina Boschiero (Univ. Milano), ospiterà le relazioni di Francesco Salerno (Univ. Ferrara) e Patrick Kinsch (Univ. Lussemburgo).
Durante la seconda sessione, incentrata sul Riconoscimento degli status e diritti umani nell’ordinamento dell’Unione europea e nel diritto costituzionale italiano e moderata da Stefania Bariatti (Univ. Milano), si alterneranno le relazioni di Marilisa D’Amico (Univ. Milano) e Giulia Rossolillo (Univ. Pavia), seguiti dagli interventi di Livio Scaffidi Runchella, Joelle Long, Manuela Naldini, Giuseppe Zago ed Eva De Goetzen.
Nell’ultima sessione, su La questione della trascrizione degli atti formati all’estero, presieduta da Ilaria Viarengo (Univ. Milano), si svolgeranno le relazioni di Barbara Pezzini (Univ. Bergamo), Giuseppa Palmieri (Univ. Palermo), Emanuele Calò, Marco Magri (Univ. Ferrara) e Luca Morassuto (Foro di Ferrara).
Per le modalità di registrazione e ulteriori informazioni, si veda qui.
Si è svolta il 14 settembre 2015, in seno alla Commissione giuridica del Parlamento europeo, una breve discussione sull’ipotesi — già affacciata in altre occasioni dallo stesso Parlamento europeo — che l’Unione si doti di uno strumento normativo riguardante la protezione dei maggiorenni vulnerabili nelle situazioni a carattere internazionale.
Lo scambio di idee, animato dalla deputata Joëlle Bergeron e documentato nel video disponibile a questo indirizzo (il tema viene trattato a partire dal minuto 19 e 20 secondi), si è concluso con una rinnovata richiesta alla Commissione europea affinché prenda in considerazione, in funzione dell’elaborazione di specifiche proposte, gli auspici espressi dal Parlamento europeo nella risoluzione del 18 dicembre 2008 recante raccomandazioni alla Commissione sulla protezione giuridica degli adulti.
L’idea, in estrema sintesi, è quella di rafforzare in questo campo la cooperazione fra gli Stati membri, prendendo come base le soluzioni offerte dalla Convenzione dell’Aja del 13 gennaio 2000 sulla protezione internazionale degli adulti (sin qui ratificata, per la verità, da appena sei Stati membri; tra questi non vi è l’Italia: vedi, peraltro, a quest’ultimo proposito questo post).
In a judgment of 9 September 2015 (Christophe Bohez v. Ingrid Wiertz, Case C-4/14), the European Court of Justice (ECJ) clarified the interpretation of Article 1(2) and Article 49 of Regulation No 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matter (Brussels I), corresponding to Articles 1(2) and 55 of Regulation No 1215/2012 (Brussels Ia), as well as the interpretation of Article 47(1) of Regulation No 2201/2003 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility (Brussels IIa). The questions referred to the Court concerned the enforcement of a penalty payment (astreinte) issued to ensure compliance with the rights of access to children granted to one of the parents.
While Article 49 of the Brussels I Regulation states that judgments ordering “a periodic payment by way of a penalty” are enforceable in a different Member State “only if the amount of the payment has been finally determined by the courts of the Member State of origin”, no equivalent provision may be found in the Brussels IIa Regulation. The latter merely specifies, in Article 47(1), that the enforcement procedure is governed by the law of the Member State of enforcement.
The case from which the judgment originated may be summarised as follows.
Mr Bohez and Ms Wiertz married in Belgium in 1997 and had two children. When they divorced, in 2005, Ms Wiertz moved to Finland. In 2007, a Belgian court rendered a decision on the responsibility over the children. As a means to ensure compliance with the rights of access granted to the father, the court set at a periodic amount per child to be paid to Mr Bohez for every day of the child’s non-appearance, and fixed a maximum amount that the defaulting parent could be requested to pay under the astreinte.
The mother failed to comply with the Belgian decision, so the father sought enforcement of the Belgian order in Finland relying on Article 49 of Brussels I Regulation. The Finnish authorities observed that the amount of the payment had not been determined in the Member State of origin, and added that, in any event, the request did not fall within the scope of the Brussels I Regulation but rather within the scope of the Brussels IIa Regulation.
The ECJ, seised by the Finnish Supreme Court, pointed out that the scope of Brussels I Regulation is limited to “civil and commercial matters”, and that the inclusion of interim measures is determined “not by their own nature but by the nature of the rights that they serve to protect”. Thus, since the Brussels I Regulation expressly excludes from its scope “the status of natural persons” (notion “which encompasses the exercise of parental responsibility over the person of the child”), the Court held that Article 1 of Brussels I Regulation must be interpreted as meaning that it does not apply to the enforcement of a penalty payment imposed in a judgment concerning matters of parental responsibility.
The ECJ then moved on to consider the interpretation of the Brussels IIa Regulation.
It recalled that mutual recognition of judgments concerning rights of access is “a priority within the judicial area of the European Union” and observed that, although the Regulation does not contain any provision on penalties, a penalty payment imposed in a judgment concerning rights of access “cannot be considered in isolation as a self-standing obligation, but must be considered together with the rights of access which it serve to protect and from which it cannot be dissociated”. Accordingly, its recovery forms part “of the same scheme of enforcement as the judgment concerning the rights of access that the penalty safeguards and the latter must therefore be declared enforceable in accordance with the rules laid down by Regulation No 2201/2003”.
The Court stressed that, in order to seek enforcement of the decision ordering a penalty payment, the amount must have been finally determined by the courts of the Member State of origin. Where the penalty payment has not been determined, “a requirement, in the context of Regulation No 2201/2003, for quantification of a periodic penalty payment prior to its enforcement is consistent with the sensitive nature of rights of access”.
Joseph Lookofsky, Ketilbjørn Hertz, EU-PIL: European Union Private International Law in Contract and Tort, 2a edizione, Juris Publishing, 2015, pp. 216, ISBN 9781578234455, USD 75.
[Dal sito dell’editore] Experienced practitioners in Europe realise the increasing commercial significance of the discipline known as Private International Law (Conflict of Laws). As indicated by its title, the focus of this book is on the Private International Law rules applied by courts and arbitral tribunals in the European Union, but by including numerous concrete examples, the authors emphasise the interdisciplinary nature of the subject and thus the many relevant ‘connections’ between private international law and substantive commercial law, especially as regards contractual and delictual matters (e.g.) in cases concerning contracts for the international sale of goods, cross-border claims relating to product liability, etc. This second edition has been revised to consider the new ‘recast’ of the Brussels I Regulation on Jurisdiction and Judgments (2012). This new edition also incorporates a number of important decisions which the Court of Justice of the European Union has had occasion to render as regards the proper interpretation of key rule-sets covered in this volume.
Maggiori informazioni a questo indirizzo.
The CJEU yesterday confirmed the Opinion of Cruz Villalón AG in Holterman: please refer to my posting on the Opinion for background.
In particular of course, a contract for employment needs to be distinguished from a contract for the provision of services. ‘Contract of employment’ was addressed in the abstract by the CJEU in Shenavai, Case 266/85, where the Court identified a double requirement for it referred to the need for a contract to be qualified as a contract of employment: there must be durable relation between individual and company: a lasting bond, which brings the worker to some extent within the organisational framework of the business; and a link between the contract and the place where the activities are pursued, which determines the application of mandatory rules and collective agreements. However precedent value of Shenavai for the Brussels I and recast Regulation is necessarily incomplete, for a the time employees as a protected category did not yet exist in the Regulation and the Court’s findings on contracts of employment took place within the need to identify a ‘place of performance’ under the Brussels Convention’s special jurisdictional rule on contracts.
The Jenard and Möller report to the 1988 Lugano Convention suggested the relationship of subordination of the employee to the employer.
In Holterman the Court throws into the mix reference to its interpretation of secondary EU law on health and safety at work as well as European labour law, holding that ‘the essential feature of an employment relationship is that for a certain period of time one person performs services for and under the direction of another in return for which he receives remuneration’ (at 41).
Consequently the national courts now have quite a number of criteria which need to apply in practice: it is not for the CJEU to do so in an individual case. In Holterman the Court does seem to suggest that once a worker finds himself qualified as an employee, for the purposes of the application of the Jurisdiction Regulation, that qualification will trump any other roles which that individual may play in the organisation (at 49: ‘the provisions of Chapter II, Section 5 (Articles 18 to 21) of Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted as meaning that they preclude the application of Article 5(1) and (3) of that regulation, provided that that person, in his capacity as director and manager, for a certain period of time performed services for and under the direction of that company in return for which he received remuneration, that being a matter for the referring court to determine.’).
In light of the deference to the factual assessment of the national court, the CJEU does complete the analysis with respect to (now) Article 7(1): if the contract is not one of employment, then the special jurisdictional rule of Article 7(1) needs to be applied. The director of a company, the Court holds, provides a service to the company within the meaning of Article 7(1)b. In the absence of any derogating stipulation in the articles of association of the company, or in any other document, it is for the referring court to determine the place where Mr Spies in fact, for the most part, carried out his activities in the performance of the contract, provided that the provision of services in that place is not contrary to the parties’ intentions as indicated by what was agreed. For that purpose, it is possible to take into consideration, in particular, the time spent in those places and the importance of the activities carried out there, it being a matter for the national court to determine whether it has jurisdiction in the light of the evidence submitted to it (at 64).
Finally, should national law also allow for an action in tort against the director of a company, the locus delicti commissi is the place where the director carries out his duties for the company (at 76). The locus damni is the place where the damage alleged by the company actually manifests itself; it cannot be construed so extensively as to encompass any place where the adverse consequences can be felt of an event which has already caused damage actually taking place elsewhere (at 77-78).
All in all, a useful completion of the Shenavai criterion, and in the main a referral to the national court for factual analysis.
Geert.
Uglješa Grušić, The European Private International Law of Employment, Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 382, ISBN: 9781107082946, GBP 79,99.
[Dal sito dell’editore] The European Private International Law of Employment provides a descriptive and normative account of the European rules of jurisdiction and choice of law which frame international employment litigation in the courts of EU Member States. The author outlines the relevant rules of the Brussels I Regulation Recast, the Rome Regulations, the Posted Workers Directive and the draft of the Posting of Workers Enforcement Directive, and assesses those rules in light of the objective of protection of employees. By using the UK as a case study, he also highlights the impact of the ‘Europeanisation’ of private international law on traditional perceptions and rules in this field of law in individual Member States. For example, the author demonstrates that the private international law of the EU is fundamentally reshaping English conflict of laws by almost completely merging the traditionally perceived contractual, statutory and tortious claims into one claim for choice-of-law purposes.
Il sommario dell’opera può essere consultato qui. Ulteriori informazioni a questo indirizzo.
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