Suspension of civil proceedings pending CJEU preliminary ruling on interpretation of EU law

The German Federal Court of Justice (BGH) suspended the pending proceedings pursuant to Section 148(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure pending a preliminary ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union in Case C-440/23, which was referred by the Maltese Civil Court; this procedural suspension resolves the immediate interim status without determining the substantive merits or identifying a prevailing party at this stage. The dispute concerns a civil matter involving questions of EU law that necessitate interpretation by the CJEU before the German court can proceed with its final decision. The decisive legal basis is the doctrine of preliminary reference under the EU judicial cooperation framework, applied via Section 148(1) ZPO, requiring national courts to stay proceedings to allow for uniform interpretation of European law.