UPC CFI LD Hamburg, 25 January 2024: a judge-rapporteur decision that the UPC lacks competence is to be appealed to the Court of Appeal
09-02-2024 Print this page
A decision by the judge-rapporteur granting a preliminary objection that the UPC lacks competence cannot be reviewed by the full panel on the basis of Rule 333 RoP, but may be appealed to the Court of Appeal as a final decision of the Court of First Instance (Rule 21.1 RoP, Rule 220(1)(a) RoP)
Rule 333.1 RoP does not apply directly. This is because Rule 333.1 of the Rules of Procedure only applies to "procedural decisions or orders". The decision whose review the applicant seeks is not procedural. It follows from the term "procedural" that the decision may not be a final decision and thus not "terminating the proceedings".
Nor does an analogous application of Rule 333.1 RoP apply in the present case. There is neither an unintended loophole nor a comparable situation of interest.
Nor does the legislative history of the RoP indicate otherwise. In this respect, the plaintiff refers to comments made by the persons involved in the preparation of the RoP. From these remarks, the plaintiff deduces that they were of the opinion that Rule 333.1 of the Rules of Procedure applies directly to a decision granting the objection. However, this cannot be inferred from the comments referred to by the plaintiff. The comments are very brief and do not make clear the specific context in which they stand.
The decision of the Helsinki Local Chamber of 28 August 2023 - UPC_CFI_214/2023 - does not contradict this understanding.
