PIL instrument(s)

Case number and/or case name

OLG Frankfurt, 5.8.2015 – 4 UF 168/15

Details of the court

Germany, Second Instance

Articles referred to by the court

Date of the judgement

04 August 2015

Appeal history

CJEU's case law cited by the court

Summary

The parties argued about the declaration of enforceability of a settlement regarding maintenance obligations, which they had concluded before an Austrian court on 19 July 1994 and modified two years later by private agreement. The German first instance court had declared the settlement enforceable in Germany pursuant to the Maintenance Regulation and the AUG (Auslandsunterhaltsgesetz, German Foreign Maintenance Act). The debtor appealed against this decision. The second instance court stated that, according to Art. 75 (2) Maintenance Regulation, sections 2 and 3 of the Regulation's Chapter IV applied to the decisions mentioned in Art. 75 (2) lit. a) and b) only if those decisions fell within the scope of the Brussels I Regulation for the purposes of recognition and enforcement. The court found that this was not the case because the proceedings in question had been instituted in Austria not only before the entry into force of the Brussels I Regulation but also before the Brussels or the Lugano Convention entered into force in Austria on 1 January 1999 and 1 September 1996 respectively (Art. 66 (2) lit. a) Brussels I Regulation). The court then applied the Convention of 6 June 1959 between Germany and Austria on the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments, settlements and authentic instruments in civil and commercial matters and declared the court settlement enforceable.