05/02/2020 62016CJ0498  The second question 42 By its second question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 16(1) of Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted as meaning that it does not apply to the proceedings brought by a consumer for the purpose of asserting, in the courts of the place where he is domiciled, not only his own claims, but also claims assigned by other consumers domiciled in the same Member State, in other Member States or in non-member countries. 43 In that respect, it should be recalled, first of all, that the rules on jurisdiction laid down in Section 4 of Chapter II of Regulation No 44/2001 constitute a derogation both from the general rule of jurisdiction laid down in Article 2(1) of that regulation, which confers jurisdiction upon the courts of the Member State in which the defendant is domiciled, and from the rule of special jurisdiction for contracts, set out in Article 5(1) of that regulation, under which jurisdiction lies with the courts for the place of performance of the obligation in question. Thus, those rules must necessarily be interpreted strictly (see judgment of 28 January 2015, Kolassa, C-375/13, EU:C:2015:37, paragraph 28 and the case-law cited). 44 Next, the Court has already held that, since the special system established in Article 15 et seq. of Regulation No 44/2001 is inspired by the concern to protect the consumer as the party deemed to be economically weaker and less experienced in legal matters than the other party to the contract, the consumer is protected only in so far as he is, in his personal capacity, the plaintiff or defendant in proceedings. Consequently, an applicant who is not himself a party to the consumer contract in question cannot enjoy the benefit of the jurisdiction relating to consumer contracts (see, to that effect, judgment of 19 January 1993, Shearson Lehman Hutton, C-89/91, EU:C:1993:15, paragraphs 18, 23 and 24). The same considerations must also apply to a consumer to whom the claims of other consumers have been assigned. 45 The rules on jurisdiction laid down, as regards consumer contracts, in Article 16(1) of the regulation apply, in accordance with the wording of that provision, only to an action brought by a consumer against the other party to the contract, which necessarily implies that a contract has been concluded by the consumer with the trader or professional concerned (judgment of 28 January 2015, Kolassa, C-375/13, EU:C:2015:37, paragraph 32). 46 The condition that a contract must have been concluded between the consumer and the trader or professional concerned makes it possible to ensure that the attribution of jurisdiction is predictable, which is one of the objectives of Regulation No 44/2001, as is apparent from recital 11 thereof. 47 Finally, contrary to what had been advanced in the present proceedings by Mr Schrems and by the Austrian and German Governments, the fact that a consumer to whom claims have been assigned is, in any event, able to bring proceedings before the courts of the place of his domicile on the basis of claims pursuant to rights vested in him personally under a contract concluded with the defendant, similar to those which have been assigned to him, is not such as to bring those assigned claims also within the jurisdiction of that court. 48 As the Court has held in a different context, the assignment of claims cannot, in itself, have an impact on the determination of the court having jurisdiction (judgments of 18 July 2013, ÖFAB, C-147/12, EU:C:2013:490, paragraph 58, and of 21 May 2015, CDC Hydrogen Peroxide, C-352/13, EU:C:2015:335, paragraph 35). It follows that the jurisdiction of courts other than those expressly referred to by Regulation No 44/2001 cannot be established through the concentration of several claims in the person of a single applicant. Therefore, as the Advocate General noted, in essence, in point 98 of his Opinion, an assignment of claims such as that at issue in the main proceedings cannot provide the basis for a new specific forum for a consumer to whom those claims have been assigned. 49 In the light of all of the foregoing considerations, the answer to the second question is that Article 16(1) of Regulation No 44/2001 must be interpreted as meaning that it does not apply to the proceedings brought by a consumer for the purpose of asserting, in the courts of the place where he is domiciled, not only his own claims, but also claims assigned by other consumers domiciled in the same Member State, in other Member States or in non-member countries. file:///Users/nerissa/Downloads/Columbia CSV/Schrems v Facebook Ireland.htm 7/8