PIL instrument(s)

Case number and/or case name

BVBA B. v. M. - Kh. Gent, 17 January 2008

Details of the court

Belgium, First Instance

Articles referred to by the court

Date of the judgement

16 January 2008

Appeal history

CJEU's case law cited by the court

Summary

The defendant contests the international jurisdiction of the court on the grounds of “the well-known principle that debts are payable at the debtor’s place of residence”. The claimant argues that the Belgian courts have jurisdiction pursuant to its general terms and conditions, considering that the parties have had a long-standing commercial relationship since 2001. The Commercial Court considers that the claimant has consistently delivered goods and the invoices were paid by the defendant, without ever challenging the claimant’s general terms and conditions. In those circumstances it must be assumed that the general terms and conditions, as printed on the claimant’s invoices, reflect the agreement between the parties. The Belgian courts have jurisdiction. Short critique The Court refers to ECJ case 24/76, Galeries Segorna v. Bonakdarian. The Court’s reasoning is correct, although it could have said more about the facts of the case, such as the number of invoices that had been sent or the number of transactions between the parties.