Case C‑452/12

Nipponkoa Insurance Co. (Europe) Ltd

v

Inter-Zuid Transport BV

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Krefeld)

‛Judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters — Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 — Articles 27, 33 and 71 — Lis pendens — Recognition and enforcement of judgments — Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) — Article 31(2) — Rules for coexistence — Action for indemnity — Action for a negative declaration — Negative declaratory judgment’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 19 December 2013

1. Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters — Regulation No 44/2001 — Relationship with the conventions on a specific matter — Article 71 — Regulation not applicable — Limits — Compliance with the principles underlying judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters in the European Union

   (Council Regulation No 44/2001, Recitals 6, 11, 12 and 15 to 17 and Art. 71)

2. Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters — Regulation No 44/2001 — Relationship with the conventions on a specific matter — Article 71 — Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR) — Lis pendens — Action for a negative declaration or a negative declaratory judgment not having the same cause of action than an action for indemnity concerning the same facts and between the same parties — Interpretation failing to ensure that the underlying objectives and principles of the regulation are observed

   (Council Regulation No 44/2001, Arts 27 and 71)

1.  Article 71 of Regulation No 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters must be interpreted as precluding an international convention from being interpreted in a manner which fails to ensure, under conditions at least as favourable as those provided for by that regulation, that the underlying objectives and principles of that regulation are observed.

   Article 71 of that regulation provides, in relation to matters governed by specialised conventions, for the application of those conventions. However, that article cannot have a purport that conflicts with the principles underlying the legislation of which it is a part. Accordingly, that article cannot be interpreted as meaning that, in a field covered by the regulation, a specialised convention may lead to results which are less favourable for achieving sound operation of the internal market than those resulting from the provisions of that regulation.

   (see paras 36, 37, 39, operative part 1)

2.  Article 71 of Regulation No 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters must be interpreted as precluding an interpretation of Article 31(2) of the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road according to which an action for a negative declaration or a negative declaratory judgment in one Member State does not have the same cause of action as an action for indemnity between the same parties in another Member State.

   Such an interpretation would not guarantee, under conditions at least as favourable as those laid down in Regulation No 44/2001, either observance of the aim of minimising the risk of concurrent proceedings which is one of the objectives and principles which underlie judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters in the European Union, or the principles of free movement of judgments and mutual trust in the administration of justice which underlie Regulation No 44/2001.

   (see paras 44, 47-49, operative part 2)