Division 1 Court

Please note that you can only apply for a European Account Preservation Order (‘the Preservation Order’) if the court is located in a Member State to which Regulation (EU) No 655/2014 applies. This is currently not the case for Denmark and the United Kingdom.

In this field you should identify the court with which you want to lodge your application for a Preservation Order. When deciding which court to choose, you need to consider the grounds for the court's jurisdiction.

If you have not yet obtained a judgment, court settlement or authentic instrument that requires the debtor to pay your claim, jurisdiction for issuing the Preservation Order lies with the courts of the Member State that have jurisdiction on the substance of the matter in accordance with the applicable rules. These include, in particular Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters and Council Regulation (EC) No 4/2009 of 18 December 2008 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance obligations. More information on the rules of jurisdiction can be found on the website of the European e-Justice Portal at https://e-justice.europa.eu. A list of possible grounds of jurisdiction is included in section 5 of this form.

For the purposes of Regulation (EU) No 655/2014, the proceedings on the substance of the matter cover any proceedings aimed at obtaining an enforceable title on your underlying claim, for example, summary proceedings concerning orders to pay and proceedings such as the ‘procédure de référé’ in France.

If the debtor is a consumer who has concluded a contract with you for a purpose that can be regarded as being outside his trade or profession, only the courts of the Member State in which the debtor is domiciled can issue a Preservation Order.

If you already obtained a judgment or court settlement that requires the debtor to pay your claim, jurisdiction for issuing the Preservation Order lies with the courts of the Member State in which the judgment was issued or the court settlement was approved or concluded.

If you already obtained an authentic instrument, jurisdiction for issuing the Preservation Order for the claim specified in that instrument lies with the court designated for that purpose in the Member State in which that instrument was drawn up.

Once you have determined in which Member State you should bring your claim, you can find the names and addresses of the competent courts for the Preservation Order on the website of the European e-Justice Portal at https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_european_account_preservation_order-379-en.do. On the European e-Justice Portal you can also find certain information on the payment of court fees in proceedings to obtain the Preservation Order in the Member State concerned.