05/02/2020 62016CJ0498  purposes, the invalidity of contract terms relating to conditions of use, second, an injunction prohibiting the use of his data for its own purposes or for those of third parties, third, disclosure concerning the use of his data and, fourth, the production of accounts and damages in respect of the variation of contract terms, harm suffered and unjustified enrichment. 16 Mr Schrems claims to have locus standi on the basis of both his own rights and similar rights which seven other contractual partners of the defendant in the main proceedings, who are, according to the applicant, also consumers and residing in Austria, Germany or in India, have assigned to the applicant for the purposes of his action against Facebook Ireland. 17 According to Mr Schrems, the Landesgericht für Zivilrechtssachen Wien (Regional Civil Court, Vienna) has international jurisdiction as the forum of a consumer under Article 16(1) of Regulation No 44/2001. 18 Facebook Ireland raises, inter alia, an objection that the action is inadmissible because international jurisdiction is lacking. 19 The Landesgericht für Zivilrechtssachen Wien (Regional Civil Court, Vienna) dismissed the action brought by Mr Schrems on the ground that, since he is also using Facebook for professional purposes, he could not rely on jurisdiction over consumer contracts. According to that court, the jurisdiction ratione personae of the assignors of claims is not transferable to the assignee. 20 Mr Schrems brought an appeal against the order at first instance before the Oberlandesgericht Wien (Higher Regional Court, Vienna, Austria). That court amended that order in part. It upheld the claims related to the contract concluded between the applicant in the main proceedings in his own name and the defendant in the main proceedings. By contrast, it dismissed the appeal in so far as it concerned the assigned claims on the ground that the forum of a consumer can be invoked only by an applicant relying on his own claims. Consequently, it ruled, Mr Schrems could not successfully rely on the second part of Article 16(1) of Regulation No 44/2001 when seeking to enforce assigned claims. However, as to the remainder, that court rejected Facebook Ireland’s procedural objections. 21 Both parties brought an appeal on a point of law (‘Revision’) against that judgment before the Oberster Gerichtshof (Supreme Court, Austria). 22 That court states that, if the applicant in the main proceedings were a ‘consumer’, the action should be brought in Vienna. The same would apply to any proceedings brought in relation to the rights of a consumer resident in Vienna. According to the referring court, there is no significant additional burden on the defendant in the main proceedings if it were to be required in the course of these proceedings also to defend itself against additional assigned claims. 23 The referring court nevertheless takes the view that, having regard to the case-law of the Court of Justice, the question of interpretation, namely the extent to which a consumer to whom other consumers assign their claims for joint enforcement can rely on the jurisdiction over consumer contracts relevant to him, cannot be answered with the requisite degree of certainty. 24 In those circumstances, the Oberster Gerichtshof (Supreme Court) decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court for a preliminary ruling: ‘(1) Is Article 15 of Regulation … No 44/2001 … to be interpreted as meaning that a “consumer” within the meaning of that provision loses that status if, after the comparatively long use of a private Facebook account, he publishes books in connection with the enforcement of his claims, on occasion also delivers lectures for remuneration, operates websites, collects donations for the enforcement of his claims and has assigned to him the claims of numerous consumers on the assurance that he will remit to them any proceeds awarded, after the deduction of legal costs? (2) Is Article 16 of Regulation … No 44/2001 to be interpreted as meaning that a consumer in a Member State can also invoke at the same time as his own claims arising from a consumer supply at the claimant’s place of jurisdiction the claims of others consumers on the same subject who are domiciled (a) in the same Member State, (b) in another Member State, or file:///Users/nerissa/Downloads/Columbia CSV/Schrems v Facebook Ireland.htm 4/8