Judgment of the Court 21 April 1993

In Case C-172/91, REFERENCE to the Court under the Protocol of 3 June 1971 on the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the Convention of 27 September 1968 on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters by the Bundesgerichtshof of the Federal Republic of Germany for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between

THE COURT, composed of: O. Due, President, C. N. Kakouris, G. C. Rodríguez Iglesias, M. Zuleeg and J. L. Murray (Presidents of Chambers), G. F. Mancini, R. Joliét, F. A. Schockweiler, J. C. Moitinho de Almeida, F. Grévisse, M. Diez de Velasco, P. J. G. Kapteyn and D. A. O. Edward, Judges, Advocate General: M. Darmon, Registrar: H. A. Rühi, Principal Administrator,

after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:

Hans Waidmann and others by Dr. E. Kersten, Rechtsanwalt, Karlsruhe, the German Government by Professor C. Böhmer, Ministerialrat in the Federal Ministry of Justice, acting as Agent, the Italian Government by Professor L. Ferrari Bravo, Head of the Contentious Diplomatic Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assisted by O. Fiumara, Avvocato dello Stato, acting as Agents, the Commission of the European Communities by P. van Nuffel, of its Legal Service, assisted by W.-D. Krause-Ablass, Rechtsanwalt, Düsseldorf,

having regard to the Report for the Hearing,

after hearing the oral observations of Volker Sonntag, represented by H. Büttner, Rechtsanwalt, Karlsruhe, the Italian Government, the German Government and the Commission at the hearing on 14 October 1992,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 2 December 1992,

gives the following

Judgment

The second question

The first question

The third and fourth questions

Costs

1 Language of the case: German.