EC Legislation on Conflict of Laws: Interactions and Incompatibilities between Conflicts Rules

1998 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 439-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Knöfel

Formerly, EC activity in the area of private law used to be content with approximating member States' substantive laws in specified areas, and, therefore, eventual conflictual implications demanded considerable interpretative efforts. Modern Community legislation, however, increasingly complements the intended substantive-law harmonisation with provisions on conflict of laws. Given the existence of the (Rome) Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations, implemented in the United Kingdom by the Contracts (Applicable Law) Act 1990, this new tendency, where it concerns areas falling within the Convention, raises complex questions on both legislative technique and policy. The Convention, in Article 20, expressly reserves the precedence of Community choice of law rules. However, merely to point to this priority rule appears to be too simple a solution as conflicts, before being solved, have to be defined, and that is what this article aims at. Further, as an analysis that deals with European law would be incomplete without taking into account the impact on member States' law, reference will be made to domestic English and, for the purposes of comparison, to domestic German law. The latter appears to qualify for such a comparative approach because, due to the Rome Convention already having been part of the domestic law for a considerable period, certain experience might be expected within that legal system in dealing with contract conflicts issues thereunder.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Mink

The thesis focuses on the difficulties of determining the applicable law in interim proceedings in cross-border arbitral proceedings. First, it examines whether arbitral tribunals have a lex arbitri. Subsequently, the various possibilities of interim measures are described and the question is discussed whether arbitral tribunals have to refer to the Rome I Regulation or Section 1051 of the German Code of Civil Procedure in order to determine the applicable conflict of laws for contractual obligations. Then, it is analysed how the applicable substantive law is to be determined or how to proceed in case of non-determinability of such. Finally, the consequences of the application of a substitute law for the main proceedings are discussed.


Author(s):  
Edelman Colin ◽  
Burns Andrew

This chapter explores the law applicable to reinsurance. Section 2(1) of the Contracts (Applicable Law) Act 1990 provides for the incorporation of the 1980 Rome Convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations into the law of the United Kingdom. Article 1(4) of the Convention expressly provides that reinsurance contracts, unlike contracts of insurance, are subject to the rules of the Convention. However, the Convention does not have retrospective effect and therefore only applies to contracts entered into after April of 1991 when the Convention came into force. For a contract concluded before that date, the determination of its proper law depended and still depends on common law principles. At common law, the starting point is to investigate whether the parties have expressly selected a body of law at the time of contracting or whether such selection can be implied from the express terms of the contract. If the court is unable to ascertain the governing law from the contract it will then look to determine with which system of law the contract has the closest connection.


Author(s):  
Kristina Salibová

My contribution deals with the issue concerning the question arising on the applicable law in and after the transition period set in the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community. The aim of this contribution is to analyze how the English and European laws simultaneously influence one another. This analyzation will lead to the prognosis of the impact Brexit will have on the applicable English law before English courts and the courts of the states of the European Union. The main key question is the role of lex fori in English law. Will English law tend to return to common law rules post-Brexit, and prefer the lex fori?


Author(s):  
von Segesser Georg

This chapter examines the effect of the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition (Hague Trust Convention) on the law applicable to the arbitration of trust disputes. It also considers the extent to which arbitrators can apply the conflict of laws rules of the convention in cases where the parties have not agreed that these rules should govern the issues in dispute. The chapter is organized as follows. Section II addresses the selection of the applicable substantive law by arbitral tribunals in cases where the parties have not agreed on the applicable law. Sections III and IV cover international conventions and, in particular the Hague Trust Convention, as sources for the selection of the applicable law. Section V deals with the validity and effect of arbitration agreements while Section VI considers the effects of a choice of-law-clause and the binding effect of such a clause for the arbitral proceedings. Section VII addresses the effect of specific conflict of laws rules of the Hague Trust Convention on the law applicable to the merits in international trust arbitration disputes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 302-324
Author(s):  
Nicolas Bernard

The treatment by the United Kingdom of Union citizens remaining on its territory after Brexit and conversely that of UK nationals by EU27 Member States on theirs has given rise to much discussion and analysis. By contrast, there has been comparatively little systematic and detailed exploration of the question of the impact of Brexit on the exercise of Union citizens’ rights against their own Member State. It is an issue which is for the most part ignored in the current Withdrawal Agreement. The purpose of this article is to show that this blind spot opens up a potential gap in legal protection of the rights of Union citizens, which is likely to remain regardless of the outcome of the Brexit negotiations and whether a withdrawal agreement is concluded or not. The paper discusses the extent to which the adversarial nature of the withdrawal process has contributed to this failure to address this issue and the ways in which courts could step in to provide the legal protection that political processes were unable to deliver.


Author(s):  
Desiree Roffee Ciss

The law, in a general way, has the role of regulating life in society. From this same Law, several rights with branches facilitate their explanation and use in our social life to establish order. This being life in society could be seen as a kind of contract to the extent that it would be difficult for the individual to live without maintaining relationships with others. So, from the moment that there is this exchange between individuals there is what we could call contract. As we know, the contract is defined in law as an agreement by which one or more persons agree to one or more other persons to give, do or not to do something. It should also be specified that there are several kinds of contracts, but the one that will be the main focus of our development is the international contract. An international contract is understood to mean this contract, which, unlike the internal contract, presents an element of extraneity, in other words an international character. For example, a contract between two individuals of different nationality. The contract thus concluded, the contracting parties may indeed encounter difficulties that may arise at any time, most often due to non-compliance with the terms of the contract. These problems or disputes are often very difficult to resolve because the parties are from different origins, residing in different countries, or bound by commitments made in a country other than their country of residence, hence the existence of different laws. and the birth of what is called a conflict of laws. This being so, by conflict of laws is meant to be one of the main problems with private international law (the branch of law which deals with the settlement of disputes of private rights having at least an extraneous character). Thus, the question arises as to which law would be applicable in the event of a conflict of laws in the matter of contract, that is, how to choose or determine the applicable law in the course of a dispute with a foreign element? Thus, once the French judge is seized of the dispute, it will be necessary to find the law applicable to the questions of law asked. Assuming that the French judge can apply a foreign law, and that the various foreign laws with links to the litigation have a theoretical vocation to apply, were developed what are called conflict of laws rules which is an abstract rule, indirect (it does not solve the substantive question asked, but only to determine the law competent to resolve this substantive legal issue), and neutral (the substantive solution is not taken into account in the determination of the applicable law). In order to give answers to our questioning, we will focus on how to choose the law applicable to conflict of laws in matters of contract and this, in the light of French law, the Rome Convention of 19 June 1980 and the Rome 1 Regulation on the law applicable to international contractual obligations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merethe Dotterud Leiren ◽  
Kacper Szulecki ◽  
Tim Rayner ◽  
Catherine Banet

The impact of renewables on the energy markets–falling wholesale electricity prices and lower investment stability–are apparently creating a shortage of energy project financing, which in future could lead to power supply shortages. Governments have responded by introducing payments for capacity, alongside payments for energy being sold. The increasing use of capacity mechanisms (CMs) in the EU has created tensions between the European Commission, which encourages cross-country cooperation, and Member States that favour backup solutions such as capacity markets and strategic reserves. We seek to trace the influence of the European Commission on national capacity markets as well as learning between Member States. Focusing on the United Kingdom, France and Poland, the analysis shows that energy security concerns have been given more emphasis than the functioning of markets by Member States. Policy developments have primarily been domestically driven, but the European Commission has managed to impose certain elements, most importantly a uniform methodology to assess future supply security, as well as specific requirements for national capacity markets: interconnectors to neighbouring countries, demand side responses and continuous revision of CMs. Learning from other Member States’ experiences also play a role in policy decisions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet Carpenter ◽  
Moneyba González Medina ◽  
María Ángeles Huete García ◽  
Sonia De Gregorio Hurtado

This paper explores the dynamics of urban policy transfer in the European Union (EU), critically examining the process of Europeanization in relation to urban issues. The paper takes a comparative approach, analysing the evolution of urban policy and Europeanization in four member states: France, Italy, Spain and the UK from the 1990s up to the current Cohesion Policy period (2014–2020). Using an analytical framework based on three dimensions of Europeanization (direction, object and impact), we examine the extent to which urban policies are moving towards an integrated approach to sustainable urban development, as supported by the EU. The paper highlights the contradictions between processes of convergence through Europeanization, and path-dependent systems and trajectories that forge alternative paths. In doing so, it advances wider debates on the impact of Europeanization in a neo-liberal context by arguing that member states more likely to be affected by Europeanization are those most impacted by national austerity measures. A process of ‘variegated Europeanization’ is proposed to capture the differential practices taking place within the EU with regard to the circulation of the EU’s approach to urban policy.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 435-461
Author(s):  
Simon Whittaker

AbstractThis article considers the possible relationship between EU legislation governing private international law and legislation governing substantive law in the light of recent moves towards ‘full harmonisation’ and calls for greater consistency and coherence in European law-making. For this purpose, it considers the Product Liability Directive and the special product liability provisions in Article 5 of the Rome II Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations and asks how the understanding of ‘product liability’ compares in these two instruments, especially in relation to the distinctions between public and private law, general and special regulation and contract and tort.


2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Folkard

AT common law, in cases where the substantive claim is governed by foreign law, questions of procedure are nonetheless governed by the lex fori. In the context of damages, although the existence of damage is a question for the lex causae, its quantification and assessment is determined according to the law of the forum (Boys v Chaplin [1971] A.C. 356). The distinction between substance and procedure is preserved by Article 1(3) of Council Regulation (EC) No 864/2007 (“Rome II”) which provides, with certain exceptions, that Rome II “shall not apply to evidence and procedure”. That rule is, however, qualified by Article 15, which requires the law applicable under the Regulation (i.e. “the law applicable to non-contractual obligations”) to govern, inter alia, “the existence, the nature and the assessment of damage or the remedy claimed” (Article 15(c)). The decision of the Court of Appeal in Wall v Mutuelle De Poitiers Assurances [2014] EWCA Civ 138; [2014] 3 All E.R. 340 concerns the definition of “procedure” in Article 1(3) and the meaning of “applicable law” in Article 15(c). It raises the important question of how far Rome II has encroached on the traditional view of national procedural autonomy in the conflict of laws.


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