CJEU Case C-21/17 / Judgment

Catlin Europe SE v O. K. Trans Praha spol. s r. o.
Policy area
Justice, freedom and security
Deciding body type
Court of Justice of the European Union
Deciding body
Court (Fifht Chamber)
Type
Decision
Decision date
06/09/2018
ECLI (European case law identifier)
ECLI:EU:C:2018:675
  • CJEU Case C-21/17 / Judgment

    Key facts of the case:

    Request for a preliminary ruling from the Nejvyšší soud České republiky.

    Reference for a preliminary ruling — Judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters — European order for payment procedure — Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 — Issue of an order for payment together with the application for the order — No translation of the application for the order — European order for payment declared enforceable — Application for review after expiry of the period for opposition — Service of judicial and extrajudicial documents — Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 — Applicability — Article 8 and Annex II — Informing the addressee of the right to refuse to accept a document instituting proceedings that has not been translated — Lack of the standard form — Consequences.

    Outcome of the case:

    On those grounds, the Court (Fifth Chamber) hereby rules:

    Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 creating a European order for payment procedure and Regulation (EC) No 1393/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 November 2007 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents), and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1348/2000 must be interpreted as meaning that, where a European order for payment is served on the defendant without the application for the order, annexed to the order, being written in or accompanied by a translation into a language he is deemed to understand, as required by Article 8(1) of Regulation No 1393/2007, the defendant must be duly informed, by means of the standard form in Annex II to Regulation No 1393/2007, of his right to refuse to accept the document in question.

    If that formal requirement is omitted, the procedure must be regularised in accordance with the provisions of Regulation No 1393/2007, by communicating to the addressee the standard form in Annex II to that regulation.

    In that case, as a result of the procedural irregularity affecting the service of the European order for payment together with the application for the order, the order does not become enforceable and the period in which the defendant may lodge a statement of opposition cannot start to run, so that Article 20 of Regulation No 1896/2006 cannot apply.

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter (original language)