European Union – Civil and commercial matters. Article 1(1) and (2)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 should be interpreted as meaning that an action, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, concerning a claim for damages arising from liability for a wrongful act, brought by the liquidator in insolvency proceedings and the proceeds of which, if the claim succeeded, accrued to the general body of creditors, was covered by the concept of 'civil and commercial matters' within the meaning of art 1(1), and therefore fell within the material scope of that regulation. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held in proceedings concerning the recovery by the liquidator, in bankruptcy proceedings opened in the Netherlands, of a sum duly debited by one of the bankrupt parties from an account with a bank in Belgium.