Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1 Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments - Prorogation of jurisdiction - Agreement conferring jurisdiction - Conditions as to form - Written form - Clause included in the general conditions on the reverse of the contract - Need for an express reference to those conditions in the contract

(Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 17)

2 Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments - Protocol on the interpretation of the Convention by the Court of Justice - Preliminary rulings - Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice - Limits

(Convention of 27 September 1968; Protocol of 3 June 1971)

3 Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments - Prorogation of jurisdiction - Agreement conferring jurisdiction - Conditions as to form - Agreement made in a form according with usages in international trade or commerce - Concept - Criteria of assessment - Consent of the parties - Proof of the usage and of the parties' awareness of it

(Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 17, as amended by the Convention on Accession of 1978)

4 Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments - Prorogation of jurisdiction - Agreement conferring jurisdiction - Conditions as to form - Scheme of the Convention - Exhaustive nature - Application of other conditions concerning the choice of court by the parties - Excluded

(Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 17)

Summary

1 Whilst the mere fact that a clause conferring jurisdiction is printed on the reverse of a contract drawn up on the commercial paper of one of the parties does not of itself satisfy the requirements as to written form laid down in Article 17 of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, it is otherwise where the text of the contract signed by both parties itself contains an express reference to general conditions which include a clause conferring jurisdiction.

2 Under the division of responsibilities in the preliminary ruling procedure laid down by the Protocol of 3 June 1971 on the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, it is solely for the national court before which the dispute has been brought, and which must assume responsibility for the subsequent judicial decision, to determine in the light of the particular circumstances of each case both the need for a preliminary ruling in order to enable it to deliver judgment and the relevance of the questions which it submits to the Court.

3 The third case mentioned in the second sentence of the first paragraph of Article 17 of the Convention of 27 September 1968 is to be interpreted as follows:

- The contracting parties' consent to the jurisdiction clause is presumed to exist where their conduct is consistent with a usage which governs the area of international trade or commerce in which they operate and of which they are, or ought to have been, aware.

- The existence of such a usage, which must be determined in relation to the branch of trade or commerce in which the parties to the contract operate, is established where a particular course of conduct is generally and regularly followed by operators in that branch when concluding contracts of a particular type. It is not necessary for such a course of conduct to be established in specific countries or, in particular, in all the Contracting States. In addition, in establishing the existence of a usage, although any publicity which might be given in associations or specialised bodies to the standard forms on which a jurisdiction clause appears may help to prove that a practice is generally and regularly followed, such publicity cannot be a requirement. Furthermore, a course of conduct satisfying the conditions indicative of a usage does not cease to be a usage because it is challenged before the courts, whatever the extent of the challenges, provided that it still continues to be generally and regularly followed in the trade with which the type of contract in question is concerned.

- The specific requirements covered by the expression `form which accords' must be assessed solely in the light of the commercial usages of the branch of international trade or commerce concerned, without taking into account any particular requirements which national provisions might lay down.

- Awareness of the usage must be assessed with respect to the original parties to the agreement conferring jurisdiction, their nationality being irrelevant in this regard. Awareness of the usage will be established when, regardless of any specific form of publicity, in the branch of trade or commerce in which the parties operate a particular course of conduct is generally and regularly followed in the conclusion of a particular type of contract, so that it may be regarded as an established usage.

4 The choice of court in a jurisdiction clause may be assessed only in the light of considerations connected with the requirements laid down in Article 17 of the Convention of 27 September 1968. Considerations about the links between the court designated and the relationship at issue, about the validity of the clause, or about the substantive rules of liability applicable before the chosen court are unconnected with those requirements.