Case C‑308/17
Hellenic Republic
v
Leo Kuhn
(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Oberster Gerichtshof)
(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 — Jurisdiction in civil and commercial matters — Scope — Article 1(1) — Concept of ‘civil and commercial matters’ — Bonds issued by a Member State — Involvement of the private sector in the restructuring of public debt of that State — Unilateral and retroactive adjustment of the borrowing terms — Collective action clauses — Action brought against the State by private creditors who hold those bonds as natural persons — Liability of the State for acts and omissions in the exercise of State authority)
Summary — Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 15 November 2018
Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters — Regulation No 1215/2012 — Scope — Civil and commercial matters — Action brought by an acquirer of bonds issued by a Member State against that State, seeking to contest the exchange of those bonds with bonds of a lower value — Not included
(Council Regulation No 1215/2012, Art. 1(1))
Article 1(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters is to be interpreted as meaning that a dispute relating to an action brought by a natural person having acquired bonds issued by a Member State, against that State and seeking to contest the exchange of those bonds with bonds of a lower value, imposed on that natural person by the effect of a law adopted in exceptional circumstances by the national legislator, according to which those terms were unilaterally and retroactively amended by the introduction of a collective action clause allowing a majority of holders of the relevant bonds to impose that exchange on the minority, does not fall within ‘civil and commercial matters’ within the meaning of that article.
(see para. 43, operative part)