Judgment of The Court (First Chamber), of 15 July 2021, in Case C‑30/20, request for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Juzgado de lo Mercantil n.o 2 de Madrid (Commercial Court No 2, Madrid, Spain).
RH is an undertaking domiciled in Cordoba (Spain), where between 2004 and 2009 it purchased five trucks from a Volvo Group España dealer.
The Commission found there to be a cartel in which 15 international truck manufacturers had participated, including Volvo, Volvo Group Trucks Central Europe and Volvo Lastvagnar.
RH brought an action for damages against Volvo (Gothenburg, Sweden), Volvo Group Trucks Central Europe (Ismaning, Germany), Volvo Lastvagnar (Gothenburg) and Volvo Group España (Madrid, Spain), in support of which it claims to have suffered loss in that it purchased the five vehicles referred to above by paying an additional cost due to the collusive arrangements penalised by the Commission.
Although RH purchased the vehicles in Cordoba and is domiciled in that city, it brought its action before the Juzgado de lo Mercantil n.o 2 de Madrid (Commercial Court No 2, Madrid, Spain).
The defendants have, however, contested international jurisdiction, contending that the ‘place where the harmful event occurred or may occur’, referred to in Article 7(2) of Regulation No 1215/2012, is the place of the event giving rise to the loss, in this case the place where the truck cartel was concluded, and not where the applicant in the main proceedings is domiciled. Since the cartel was concluded in other Member States of the European Union, the defendants contend that the Spanish courts do not have jurisdiction.
The Court (First Chamber) rulesthat, within the market affected by collusive arrangements on the fixing and increase in the prices of goods, either the court within whose jurisdiction the undertaking claiming to be harmed purchased the goods affected by those arrangements or, in the case of purchases made by that undertaking in several places, the court within whose jurisdiction that undertaking’s registered office is situated, has international and territorial jurisdiction, in terms of the place where the damage occurred, over an action for compensation for the damage caused by those arrangements contrary to Article 101 TFEU.