CHEP Equipment Pooling BV v ITS Ltd & Ors

The 3 rd Defendant, Mr Bart de Laender (�Mr de Laender�) applies to set aside service of proceedings commenced by the Claimant on 8 December 2020. His principal argument is that the claim against him falls within Article 22 of Regulation 1215/2020 (�the Brussels Recast Regulation�). Since these proceedings were commenced before 1 January 2021, it is common ground that the Brussels Recast Regulation is the applicable jurisdictional regime.

Section 5 of Chapter 2 of the Brussels Recast Regulation contains the jurisdictional rules concerning individual contracts of employment. Article 20(1) provides:

�In matters relating to individual contracts of employment, jurisdiction shall be determined by this Section, without prejudice to Article 6, point 5 of Article 7 and, in the case of proceedings brought against an employer, point 1 of Article 8�.

Article 22(1), which is the article relied upon by Mr de Laender, in turn provides:

�An employer may bring proceedings only in the courts of the Member State in which the employee is domiciled�.