CJEU Case C-347/18/ Opinion

Allessandro Salvoni v Anna Maria Fiermonte
Policy area
Justice, freedom and security
Deciding body type
Court of Justice of the European Union
Deciding body
Advocate General
Type
Opinion
Decision date
07/05/2019
ECLI (European case law identifier)
ECLI:EU:C:2019:370
  • CJEU Case C-347/18/ Opinion

    Introduction

    1. Under the system established by Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (recast), a judgment given by the courts of a Member State is to be recognised in the other Member States without any specific procedure. If enforceable in the Member State of origin, it will be enforceable in the other Member States without the need for an exequatur.
    2. In order to enforce in a Member State a judgment given in another Member State, the applicant must nonetheless provide the competent enforcement authority with a copy of the judgment, and with a certificate — issued pursuant to Article 53 of Regulation No 1215/2012 — certifying that the judgment in question is enforceable and containing an extract of the judgment (‘the Article 53 Certificate’).
    3. What exactly is the nature of that procedure and what are the powers of the court of origin in relation to it? Those are in essence the questions raised by the Tribunale di Milano (District Court, Milan, Italy) in the present reference for a preliminary ruling. In particular, that court enquires whether the court of origin tasked with issuing the Article 53 Certificate may, of its own motion, seek to ascertain whether the judgment whose enforcement is sought was issued in breach of the rules on jurisdiction over consumer contracts, so that it may, where appropriate, inform the consumer of any such breach and enable her to consider the possibility of opposing enforcement of the judgment in the Member State addressed.

    Conclusion

    I propose that the Court answer the question referred for a preliminary ruling by the Tribunale di Milano (District Court, Milan, Italy) as follows:

     Article 53 of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (recast), precludes the court of origin requested to issue the certificate with regard to a judicial decision that has acquired the force of res judicata from exercising powers of its own motion in order to ascertain whether that decision was issued in breach of the rules on jurisdiction over consumer contracts.

  • Paragraphs referring to EU Charter

    16, 19, 45, 85-92