Where a consumer under a long-term mortgage loan contract that requires each party to inform the other of any change of address renounces his domicile before proceedings are brought for breach of his contractual obligations, the courts of the Member State of the consumer's last known domicile have jurisdiction under Article 16(2) if they have been unable to determine the defendant's current domicile under Article 59 and have no firm evidence that the defendant is domiciled outside the European Union. Regulation No 44/2001 does not preclude a national procedural rule that, to avoid a denial of justice, allows proceedings to be brought against, and in the absence of, a person whose domicile is unknown - provided that, before ruling, the court seised is satisfied that all investigations required by the principles of diligence and good faith have been undertaken to trace the defendant.