Glaxosmithkline and Laboratoires Glaxosmithkline v Jean-Pierre Rouard.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Celex Number: 62006CJ0462
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2008:299
• Docket Number: C-462/06
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Procedure Type: Reference for a preliminary ruling
• Date: 22 May 2008

Case C-462/06

Glaxosmithkline

and

Laboratoires Glaxosmithkline

v

Jean-Pierre Rouard

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation (France))

(Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 – Section 5 of Chapter II – Jurisdiction over individual contracts of employment – Section 2 of Chapter II – Special jurisdiction – Article 6(1) – More than one defendant)

Summary of the Judgment

Judicial cooperation in civil matters – Jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters – Regulation No 44/2001 – Jurisdiction over individual contracts of employment – More than one defendant

(Council Regulation No 44/2001, Art. 6(1))

The rule of special jurisdiction provided for in Article 6(1) of Regulation No 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters cannot be applied to a dispute falling under Section 5 of Chapter II of that regulation concerning the jurisdiction rules applicable to individual contracts of employment.

It is apparent from Article 18(1) of that regulation and, moreover, from a literal interpretation of Section 5, supported by the ‘travaux préparatoires’ relating to the regulation, that the court having jurisdiction in proceedings concerning an individual contract of employment must be designated in accordance with the jurisdiction rules laid down in that section, rules which, on account of their specific and exhaustive nature, cannot be amended or supplemented by other rules of jurisdiction laid down in that regulation unless specific reference is made thereto in Section 5.

As regards the possibility that only an employee may rely on Article 6(1) of the regulation, that would run counter to the wording of both that provision and Section 5 of Chapter II of that regulation. The transformation by the Community courts of the rules of special jurisdiction, aimed at facilitating sound administration of justice, into rules of unilateral jurisdiction protecting the party deemed to be weaker would go beyond the balance of interests which the Community legislature has established in the law as it currently stands. Furthermore, such an interpretation would be difficult to reconcile with the principle of legal certainty, which is one of the objectives of the regulation and which requires, in particular, that rules of jurisdiction be interpreted in such a way as to be highly predictable.

(see paras 19-24, 32-33, 35, operative part)

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (First Chamber)

22 May 2008 (*)

(Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 – Section 5 of Chapter II – Jurisdiction over individual contracts of employment – Section 2 of Chapter II – Special jurisdiction – Article 6, point 1 – More than one defendant)

In Case C‑462/06,

REFERENCE for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Cour de cassation (France), made by decision of 7 November 2006, received at the Court on 20 November 2006, in the proceedings

Glaxosmithkline,

Laboratoires Glaxosmithkline

v

Jean-Pierre Rouard,

THE COURT (First Chamber),

composed of P. Jann (Rapporteur), President of the Chamber, A. Tizzano, A. Borg Barthet, M. Ilešič and E. Levits, Judges,

Advocate General: M. Poiares Maduro,

Registrar: C. Strömholm, Administrator,

having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 15 November 2007,

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:

– Glaxosmithkline and Laboratoires Glaxosmithkline, by B. Soltner, avocat,

– M. Rouard, by C. Waquet, avocat,

– the French Government, by G. de Bergues and A.-L. During, acting as Agents,

– the German Government, by M. Lumma, acting as Agent,

– the Italian Government, by I.M. Braguglia, acting as Agent, and by W. Ferrante, avvocato dello Stato,

– the United Kingdom Government, by Z. Bryanston-Cross, acting as Agent, and by A. Howard, barrister,

– the Commission of the European Communities, by A.‑M. Rouchaud-Joët, acting as Agent,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 17 January 2008,

gives the following

Judgment

1 This reference for a preliminary ruling relates to the interpretation of Article 6, point 1, and Section 5 of Chapter II of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 of 22 December 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (OJ 2001 L 12, p. 1; ‘the Regulation’).

2 The reference was made in the course of proceedings between Mr Rouard and Glaxosmithkline and Laboratoires Glaxosmithkline, established in the United Kingdom and France respectively, considered by Mr Rouard, by virtue of a term in his contract of employment, to have been his joint employers and from which he seeks the payment of various amounts by way of compensation for dismissal and damages for wrongful breach of that contract.

Legal context

3 Article 2, point 1, in Section 1, entitled ‘General provisions’ of Chapter II of the Regulation, provides:

‘Subject to the provisions of this regulation, persons domiciled in a Member State shall, whatever their nationality, be sued in the courts of that Member State.’

4 Article 6 of the Regulation, in Section 2 of Chapter II thereof, entitled ‘Special jurisdiction’, states:

‘A person domiciled in a Member State may also be sued:

(1) where he is one of a number of defendants, in the courts...