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Austrian Supreme Court Rules on the Validity of a Jurisdiction Clause Based on a General Reference to Terms of Purchase on a Website
By Biset Sena Günes, Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg
Recently, on 25 October 2023, the Austrian Supreme Court (‘OGH’) [2 Ob 179/23x, BeckRS 2023, 33709] ruled on whether a jurisdiction clause included in the terms of purchase (‘ToP’) was valid when a written contract made reference to the website containing the ToP but did not provide the corresponding internet link. The Court held that such a clause does not meet the formal requirements laid down under Article 25 of the Brussels I (recast) Regulation and, hence, is invalid. The judgment is undoubtedly of practical relevance for the conclusion of international commercial contracts that make reference to digitally available general terms and conditions (‘GTCs’), and it is an important follow-up to the decisions by the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) in the cases of El Majdoub (C-322/14, available here) and Tilman (C-358/21, available here).
Who can bite the Apple? The CJEU can shape the future of online damages and collective actions
Written by Eduardo Silva de Freitas (Erasmus University Rotterdam), member of the Vici project Affordable Access to Justice, financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), www.euciviljustice.eu.
Introduction
In the final weeks leading up to Christmas in 2023, the District Court of Amsterdam referred a set of questions to the CJEU (DC Amsterdam, 20 December 2023, ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2023:8330; in Dutch). These questions, if comprehensively addressed, have the potential to bring clarity to longstanding debates regarding jurisdictional conflicts in collective actions. Despite being rooted in competition law with its unique intricacies, the issues surrounding the determination of online damage locations hold the promise of illuminating pertinent questions. Moreover, the forthcoming judgment is expected to provide insights into the centralization of jurisdiction in collective actions within a specific Member State, an aspect currently unclear. Recalling our previous discussion on the Dutch class action under the WAMCA in this blog, it is crucial to emphasize that, under the WAMCA, only one representative action can be allowed to proceed for the same event. In instances where multiple representative foundations seek to bring proceedings for the same event without reaching a settlement up to a certain point during the proceedings, the court will appoint an exclusive representative. This procedural detail adds an additional layer of complexity to the dynamics of collective actions under the WAMCA.
One, Two, Three… Fault? CJEU Rules on Civil Liability Requirements under the GDPR
Marco Buzzoni, Doctoral Researcher at the Luxembourg Centre for European Law (LCEL) and PhD candidate at the Sorbonne Law School, offers a critical analysis of some recent rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union in matters of data protection.
In a series of three preliminary rulings issued on 14th December and 21st December 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) was called upon again to rule on the interpretation of Article 82 of the General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’). While these rulings provide some welcome clarifications regarding the civil liability of data controllers, their slightly inconsistent reasoning will most likely raise difficulties in future cases, especially those involving cross-border processing of personal data.
News
Brace yourself: The US Supreme Court has granted certiorari in the firearms case of Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., et al. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos (Mexico)
This month the US Supreme Court granted certiorari in the case of Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc., et al. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos (Mexico). For more information, click here. For some Private International Law implications, click here.
The petitioners are: Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc.; Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc.; Beretta U.S.A. Corp; Glock, Inc.; Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc.; Witmer Public Safety Group, Inc., d/b/a Interstate Arms; Century International Arms, Inc.; and Colt’s Manufacturing Company, LLC.
Chinese Journal of Transnational Law (Vol. 1, Issue 2) was released
We are pleased to announce the publication of the latest issue of the Chinese Journal of Transnational Law (Volume 1, Issue 2, September 2024). The special issue titled “Legalization of Foreign Relations in China” was guest-edited by Professor Congyan Cai.
The full issue is now available with free access for a limited time. You can explore the table of contents and access the articles at this link: Chinese Journal of Transnational Law – Volume 1, Issue 2.
Table of Contents
Special Issue Articles
Legalization of Foreign Relations in China
Zheng Tang and Congyan Cai
pp. 89
Milestone of China’s Foreign-Related Legislation – A Review of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Foreign Relations
Huang Huikang
pp. 95
Political Framing in China’s Foreign Relations Law: International Law and ‘Fundamental Norms Governing International Relations’
Malcolm Jorgensen
pp. 117
China’s Foreign State Immunity Law: A View from the United States
William S. Dodge
pp. 137
A Critical Appraisal on China’s Blocking Statutes from a Private Actor’s Perspective
Guiqiang Liu
pp. 154
Original Research Article
A Future Uniform Regime of International Commercial Mediator Immunity: Limited, Party-Agreed and Statute-Required
Meng Lin
pp. 176
Short Article and Recent Development
Reading China’s Global Security Initiative Through an International Legal Lens
Ka Lok Yip
pp. 198
Book Review
Liang Xi, Updated and Augmented by Yang Zewei, Liangxi Guojizuzhifa
Gang Tang
pp. 211
Journal of Private International Law 20th Anniversary Conference: Call for Paper Proposals
The following information on the Journal of Private International Law 20th Anniversary Conference, to be held at the Faculty of Laws, University College London, Thursday 11 – Saturday 13 September 2025, has kindly been provided by Ugljesa Grusic.
We are pleased to invite the submission of paper proposals for the conference. Submission is open to anyone regardless of seniority or academic affiliation, including postgraduate students and practitioners, with an expectation that you will produce a paper for submission to the Journal of Private International Law by the end of the 2025 calendar year (with publication subject to the usual peer review process). Proposals are welcome on any topic within the scope of the Journal. A proposal should include an abstract of no more than 500 words, as well as details of the name and affiliation(s) of the author(s).