Article 30
For the purposes of this Section, a court shall be deemed to be seised:
1\. at the time when the document instituting the proceedings or an equivalent document is lodged with the court, provided that the plaintiff has not subsequently failed to take the steps he was required to take to have service effected on the defendant, or
2\. if the document has to be served before being lodged with the court, at the time when it is received by the authority responsible for service, provided that the plaintiff has not subsequently failed to take the steps he was required to take to have the document lodged with the court.
Section 10
Provisional, including protective, measures
HanseYachts AG v Port D'Hiver Yachting SARL and Others
In cases of lis pendens, the date on which proceedings for a measure of inquiry prior to any legal proceedings were commenced cannot be treated as the date on which, for the purposes of point 1 of Article 30 of Regulation No 44/2001, the court later called upon to rule on the substantive application brought in the same Member State following that measure is deemed to have been seised.
Aannemingsbedrijf Aertssen NV and Aertssen Terrassements SA v VSB Machineverhuur BV and Others
For Article 30, where a person lodges with an investigating magistrate a complaint seeking to join a civil action to proceedings by filing a document that need not, under the applicable national law, be served before filing, the magistrate is seised when the complaint is lodged.