PIL instrument(s)

Case number and/or case name

unknown - Bruxelles, 8 June 2004

Details of the court

Belgium, Second Instance

Articles referred to by the court

Date of the judgement

07 June 2004

Appeal history

CJEU's case law cited by the court

Summary

The appellant had initiated proceedings – by unilateral application – to obtain a declaration of enforceability of a decision handed down by the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Grasse on 7 January 2004. Its application was based on Art. 570 Belgian Judicial Code (this provision confers jurisdiction on the Court of First Instance for exequatur proceedings). However, this provision does not allow the plaintiff to diverge from the usual ways to institute proceedings, i.e. the writ of summons and the voluntary appearance of both parties, and use the unilateral application (“requête unilatérale”). Art. 38 Brussels I Regulation provides that a judgment given in a Member State and enforceable in that State shall be enforced in another Member State when, “on the application of any interested party”, it has been declared enforceable there (in French: “sur requête de toute partie intéressée”). “Requête” means only “on request of” and does not refer to the “requête unilatérale”, a particular mode of instituting proceedings. Art. 40 Brussels I confirms that the procedure for making the application shall be governed by the law of the Member State in which enforcement is sought. The appellant’s unilateral application for a declaration of enforceability is inadmissible.