Official Journal of the European Union

C series

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C/2024/3886

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 16 May 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Sofiyski rayonen sad – Bulgaria) – ‘Toplofikatsia Sofia’ EAD

(Case C-222/23,

Toplofikatsia Sofia (Concept of the defendant’s domicile))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Judicial cooperation in civil matters - Regulation (EU) No 1215/2012 - Jurisdiction and the enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters - Order for payment procedure - Concept of ‘domicile’ - National of a Member State having his or her permanent address in that Member State and his or her current address in another Member State - No possibility of changing or renouncing that permanent address)

(C/2024/3886)

Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: ‘Toplofikatsia Sofia’ EAD

Operative part of the judgment

1.Article 62(1) of 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 must be interpreted as meaning that it precludes national legislation under which nationals of a Member State who reside in another Member State are deemed to be domiciled at an address which remains at all times registered in the first Member State.

2.Article 4(1) and Article 5(1) of Regulation No 1215/2012 must be interpreted as precluding national legislation, as interpreted in national case-law, from conferring on a court of a Member State jurisdiction to issue an order for payment against a debtor in respect of whom there are reasonable grounds to believe that he or she was domiciled, on the date on which the application for an order for payment was made, in the territory of another Member State, in situations other than those provided for in Sections 2 to 7 of Chapter II of that regulation.

3.Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2020/1784 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2020 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters (service of documents) must be interpreted as not precluding a court of a Member State, which has jurisdiction to issue an order for payment against a debtor where there are reasonable grounds to believe that he or she is domiciled in the territory of another Member State, from seeking assistance from the competent authorities of that other Member State and using the means it makes available to identify the debtor’s address for service of that order for payment.

Language of the case: Bulgarian

ECLI:EU:C:2025:140