TNT EXPRESS NEDERLAND BV V AXA VERSICHERUNG AG

Case C-533/08, Court of Justice of the European Communities, 4 May 2010

Carriage of goods (road) - Jurisdiction - Enforcement of judgment - Relationship between the Brussels Jurisdiction Convention and conventions concluded by member states on particular matters - Jurisdiction and recognition and enforcement of judgments - Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001, article 71 - Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, signed at Geneva on 19 May 1956, as amended by the Protocol signed at Geneva on 5 July 1978 (CMR)

Goods had been submitted for transportation but had failed to arrive at their destination. Proceedings had been instituted by the parties before courts in the Netherlands and Germany respectively. The disputes fell within the scope of both Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 and the CMR. When the party that had succeeded before the German court sought enforcement before the Netherlands court, the other party requested that enforcement be refused because the German court lacked jurisdiction based on CMR and the fact that the dispute had already been lis pendens before the Netherlands court at the time proceedings were commenced before the German court. The Netherlands court referred several questions for preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Communities, which the court answered as follows. Article 71 of Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 must be interpreted as meaning that the rules governing jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement that are laid down by a convention on a particular matter, such as the lis pendens rule set out in article 31(2) of the CMR, and the rule relating to enforceability set out in article 31(3) of that convention, apply; provided that they are highly predictable, facilitate the sound administration of justice and enable the risk of concurrent proceedings to be minimised and that they ensure the free movement of judgments in civil and commercial matters and mutual trust in the administration of justice in the European Union. The Court of Justice of the European Union does not have jurisdiction to interpret article 31 of the CMR.