Affirming free movement of services and the scope of international jurisdiction of a cross-border consumer credit agreement: C-630/17 Milivojevic v Raiffeisenbank St Stefan-Jagerberg-Wolfsberg eGen

At the heart of the recent CJEU case C-630/17 Milivojevic v Raiffeisenbank St Stefan-Jagerberg-Wolfsberg eGen, was the principle of free movement of services (Article 56) and shared competence in consumer protection law between the EU and Member States (Article 169). In this case, the Croatian court referred a question concerned with Member States’ restrictions on free movement of services and whether the contract was a consumer contract for the purpose of establishing international jurisdiction under EU 1215/2012 the Brussels I Bis Regulation. The value of this case is in how the CJEU affirms the relationship between the principle of free movement of services and Member States’ laws in such cases where the latter seeks to “invalidate” consumer credit agreements with non-authorised lenders. It also reiterated the interpretation of the consumer concept for special international jurisdiction under the Brussels I Bis Regulation and the scope of exclusive, in rem jurisdiction under the same instrument.