Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1. Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments - Protocol on the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the Convention - National courts which may request the Court to give a preliminary ruling - Courts sitting in an appellate capacity - Definition - Italy - Corte d'Appello seised of an appeal against a decision dismissing an application for a declaration of enforceability - Included

(Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 40, first para.; Protocol of 3 June 1971, Art. 2(2))

2. Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments - Recognition and enforcement of judgments - Grounds for refusal - Contrary to the public policy of the State in which enforcement is sought - Assessment by the court before which enforcement is sought - Limits - Review by the Court

(Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 27(1))

3. Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments - Recognition and enforcement of judgments - Grounds for refusal - Contrary to the public policy of the State in which enforcement is sought - Definition

(Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 27(1))

4. Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments - Recognition and enforcement of judgments - Grounds for refusal - National law or Community law misapplied by the original court - Excluded

(EC Treaty, Art. 177 (now Art. 234 EC); Convention of 27 September 1968, Arts 27, 29 and 34, third para.)

5. Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments - Recognition and enforcement of judgments - Grounds for refusal - Contrary to the public policy of the State in which enforcement is sought - Existence in the State of origin of intellectual property rights relating to vehicle body parts

(Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 27(1))

Summary

1. The Corte d'Appello, seised of an appeal against a decision dismissing an application for a declaration of enforceability on the basis of the first paragraph of Article 40 of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, must be regarded as sitting in an appellate capacity and thus having power under Article 2(2) of the Protocol of 3 June 1971 on the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the Convention, to request the Court of Justice to give a preliminary ruling on a question of interpretation of the Convention.

Although in Italy the two stages of the procedure for a declaration of enforceability provided for under Article 31 et seq. of the Convention take place before the Corte d'Appello, that coincidence, which is the result of the choice made by the Italian Republic, cannot be permitted to obscure the fact that the procedure under the first paragraph of Article 32, concerning the application for a declaration of enforceability, differs from that provided for in the first paragraph of Article 40. In the first case, the Corte d'Appello rules, in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 34, without the party against whom enforcement is sought being able at this stage of the procedure to submit observations. In the second case, by contrast, the party against whom enforcement is sought must be summoned to appear before the Corte d'Appello as required by the second paragraph of Article 40.

( see paras 27-28 )

2. While the Contracting States remain free in principle, by virtue of the proviso in Article 27, point 1, of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, to determine according to their own conception what public policy requires, the limits of that concept are a matter of interpretation of the Convention. Consequently, while it is not for the Court to define the content of the public policy of a Contracting State, it is none the less required to review the limits within which the courts of a Contracting State may have recourse to that concept for the purpose of refusing recognition of a judgment emanating from another Contracting State.

( see paras 27-28 )

3. Recourse to the clause on public policy in Article 27, point 1, of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters can be envisaged only where recognition or enforcement of the judgment delivered in another Contracting State would be at variance to an unacceptable degree with the legal order of the State in which enforcement is sought inasmuch as it infringes a fundamental principle. In order for the prohibition of any review of the foreign judgment as to its substance to be observed, the infringement would have to constitute a manifest breach of a rule of law regarded as essential in the legal order of the State in which enforcement is sought or of a right recognised as being fundamental within that legal order.

( see para. 30 )

4. The court of the State in which enforcement is sought cannot, without undermining the aim of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, refuse recognition of a decision emanating from another Contracting State solely on the ground that it considers that national or Community law was misapplied in that decision. On the contrary, it must be considered whether, in such cases, the system of legal remedies in each Contracting State, together with the preliminary ruling procedure provided for in Article 177 of the Treaty (now Article 234 EC), affords a sufficient guarantee to individuals.

( see para. 33 )

5. Article 27, point 1, of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters must be interpreted as meaning that a judgment of a court or tribunal of a Contracting State recognising the existence of an intellectual property right in body parts for cars, and conferring on the holder of that right protection by enabling him to prevent third parties trading in another Contracting State from manufacturing, selling, transporting, importing or exporting in that Contracting State such body parts, cannot be considered to be contrary to public policy.

( see para. 34 and operative part )