ECJ Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments – Jurisdiction in proceedings concerning contracts concluded by consumers – Concept of ‘consumer’ – Plaintiff acting in pursuance of his trade or professional activity, as the assignee of the rights of a private individual – Excluded (Convention of 27 September 1968, Art. 13, first para., and Art. 14, as amended by the 1978 Accession Convention)
The special system established by Article 13 et seq. of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters is inspired by the concern to protect the consumer, as the party deemed to be economically weaker and less experienced in legal matters than the other party to the contract, so that the consumer must not be discouraged from suing by being compelled to bring his action before the courts in the Contracting State in which the other party to the contract is domiciled. Those provisions affect only a private final consumer, not engaged in trade or professional activities, who is bound by one of the contracts listed in Article 13 and who is a party to the action, in accordance with Article 14. It follows that Article 13 of the Convention is to be interpreted as meaning that a plaintiff who is acting in pursuance of his trade or professional activity, and who is not, therefore, himself a consumer party to one of the contracts listed in the first paragraph of that provision, may not enjoy the benefit of the rules of special jurisdiction laid down by the Convention concerning consumer contracts.
Citations:
C-89/91, [1993] EUECJ C-89/91, [1993] ECR 1-139
Links:
Statutes:
Jurisdiction:
European
Cited by:
Cited – Canada Trust Co and Others v Stolzenberg and Others (No 2) HL 12-Oct-2000
The plaintiffs alleged the involvement of the defendant in a conspiracy to defraud. He had been domiciled in England, but had moved to Germany. He denied that the UK court had jurisdiction. The court of appeal said that jurisdiction was determined . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Jurisdiction
Updated: 10 July 2022; Ref: scu.160677
