Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Preliminary rulings – Jurisdiction of the Court – Act adopted on the basis of Title IV of Part Three of the Treaty – Regulation No 1348/2000 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters

(Art. 68 EC)

2. Preliminary rulings – Jurisdiction of the Court – Act adopted on the basis of Title IV of Part Three of the Treaty – Regulation No 1348/2000 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters

(Art. 68 EC; Council Regulation No 1348/2000)

3. Judicial cooperation in civil matters – Service of judicial and extra judicial documents – Regulation No 1348/2000 – Extrajudicial documents

(Council Regulation No 1348/2000, Art. 16)

4. Judicial cooperation in civil matters – Service of judicial and extra judicial documents – Regulation No 1348/2000 – Scope

(Art. 65 EC; Council Regulation No 1348/2000, Arts 2(1) and (2) and 14)

Summary

1. Where a reference for a preliminary ruling is brought before the Court pursuant to Article 68 EC, it is not for the Court to give a ruling whether or not it is possible to bring an action against the decision that the referring court will deliver in the main proceedings, since the referring court has indicated in its reference for a preliminary ruling that the decision it will deliver in the main proceedings will be final.

(see paras 24, 28-29)

2. Although a court clerk of the court of a Member State dealing with an application for service of judicial or extrajudicial documents under Regulation No 1348/2000 may be regarded as acting as an administrative authority which is not at the same time called upon to decide a dispute, that is not the case with respect to the court called upon to adjudicate on an appeal against a court clerk’s refusal to effect the service of the documents requested. The purpose of such an appeal is to have set aside that refusal, which allegedly adversely affects a right of the applicant, namely, his right to have certain documents served through the means provided for by Regulation No 1348/2000. Consequently, the referring court is called on to adjudicate on a dispute and therefore exercises judicial functions.

The fact that the court clerk is part of the organisational structure of the referring court cannot call that conclusion into question. That fact has no effect on the judicial nature of the function exercised by the referring court in the main proceedings, given that the purpose of those proceedings is to have set aside an act which allegedly adversely affects the applicant’s rights.

(see paras 37-40)

3. The concept of ‘extrajudicial document’ within the meaning of Article 16 of Regulation No 1348/2000 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil and commercial matters is a Community law concept. The objective pursued by the Treaty of Amsterdam of creating an area of freedom, security and justice and the transfer, from the EU Treaty to the EC Treaty, of the body of rules enabling measures in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters having cross-border implications to be adopted testify to the will of the Member States to anchor such measures firmly in the Community legal order and thus to lay down the principle that they are to be interpreted autonomously.

(see paras 48, 50)

4. The service of a notarial act in the absence of legal proceedings falls within the scope of Regulation No 1348/20000 on the service in the Member State of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil and commercial matters. In that connection, given that the purpose of the system for intra-Community service is the proper functioning of the internal market, the judicial cooperation referred to by Article 65 EC and Regulation No 1348/2000 cannot be limited to legal proceedings alone, but may manifest itself even in the absence of such proceedings if that cooperation has cross-border implications and is necessary for the proper functioning of the internal market.

The broad definition of the concept of extrajudicial document is unlikely to place an excessive burden on the resources of the national courts since under Article 2(1) and (2) of Regulation No 1348/2000 the Member States may also designate as transmitting agencies and receiving agencies for the purpose of service bodies other than those courts, and Article 14 of that regulation also authorises the Member States to provide for the option of effecting service of judicial documents directly by post to persons residing in another Member State. In accordance with Article 16 of that regulation, those two provisions are applicable to the service of extrajudicial documents.

(see paras 55-56, 59-61)