European Business Law, the fourth volume in our series, shows how the European authorities simultaneously abolish all restrictions on access to and exercise of economic activities and support the growth of domestic markets, through the harmonization the internal legislation or the enactment of genuinely unified regulations.

European Business Law

In order to benefit from the simplified mechanism of recognition and enforcement laid down in Regulation No 1215/2012, the judgment of the court of origin must fulfill certain conditions. Article 36 refers to any judgment given by a court of a Member State with Article 2 defining it as a “judgment given by a court or tribunal of a Member State whatever the judgment may be called” . As the regulati …

Judgment of an independent court of a Member State

In order to benefit from the simplified mechanism of recognition and enforcement laid down in Regulation No 1215/2012, the judgment of the court of origin must fulfill certain conditions. Article 36 refers to any judgment given by a court of a Member State with Article 2 defining it as a “judgment given by a court or tribunal of a Member State whatever the judgment may be called” . As the regulation refers to judgment given by a court or tribunal of a Member State, the mechanism of recognition and enforcement does not apply to judgments given in non-Member States . It results that the issue of whether a judgment given in a non-Member State was obtained by fraud does not fall within the regulation since it was raised in the courts of proceedings excluded from its scope of application .

The concept of judgment only refers to court decisions actually given by a court or tribunal of a Member State. The decision must emanate from a judicial body deciding on its own authority on the issues between the parties . Accordingly, a court settlement which has an essentially contractual nature, cannot be assimilated to a judgment even if it has taken place before the court of a Member State and puts an end to the dispute, where as part of a settlement, the court has only confirmed the parties' will and does not act as an independent jurisdictional organ . By contrast, it results that the simplified mechanism of recognition and performance, intended by nature for litigation decisions, may be applied to non-contentious decisions, provided that the court has played an active part. An order for payment made by a court of a Member State on the basis of final judgments delivered in a third State constitutes a judgment and is enforceable in the other Member States if it was made at the end of adversarial proceedings in the Member State of origin and was declared  to be enforceable in that Member State .

Decree, order, decision or writ of execution, as well as the determination of costs or expenses by an officer of the court.

Case C-129/92 Owens Bank v Bracco [1994] ECR I-117, LawLex200900000492JBJ: Enforcement procedures taking place in a Member State for the enforcement of a judgment given in a non-Member State are excluded from the scope of application of the regulation, regardless of whether the enforcement court made an order for enforcement simplicity or followed a trial inter partes.

Case C-129/92 Owens Bank v Bracco [1994] ECR I-117, LawLex200900000492JBJ. See also regarding a dispute relating to arbitration, Case C-190/89 Rich v Società Italiana Impianti [1991] ECR I-3855, LawLex200900002070JBJ: "If, by virtue of its subject-matter […] a dispute falls outside the scope of the [regulation], the existence of a preliminary issue which the court must resolve in order to determine the dispute cannot, whatever that issue may be, justify application of the [regulation]".

Case C-414/92 Solo Kleinmotoren v Boch [1994] ECR I-2237, LawLex200900000757JBJ. 

Furthermore, a court settlement cannot be assimilated to a judgment benefiting from the simplified mechanism of recognition and enforcement provided for in Chapter III of the regulation insofar as that regulation deals separately, in a Chapter IV, with the enforcement of authentic instruments and court settlement. 

Case C-568/20 H Limited, European Commission and German Government Judgment of 7 April 2022, 

European Business Law

367. Judgment of an independent court of a Member State

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367. Judgment of an independent court of a Member State

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise