Suspension of civil proceedings pending preliminary reference to the CJEU on EU law compatibility

§ 148 Abs. 1 ZPO; Suspension of civil proceedings pending preliminary reference to the CJEU on EU law compatibility: 1 ZPO, thereby halting the national litigation pending a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in case C-440/23, which was initiated by the Civil Court of Malta; this procedural stay resolves no merits, leaving the status of the dispute and any prior instance judgments in abeyance. The underlying case involved a civil dispute within the jurisdiction of the BGH's First Civil Senate (I ZR 11/24) concerning matters that raise questions of EU law compatibility, necessitating a referral to ensure uniform interpretation across the European Union. The decisive legal basis for the operative outcome is § 148 para. 1 ZPO, which governs the suspension of proceedings when a preliminary reference to the CJEU is required to resolve issues of European law.