The Conciliation Committee, composed of representatives of the European Parliament and the Council, reached agreement on a common draft for the Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (Rome II Regulation). In addition to torts, non-contractual obligations specifically include unjustified enrichment and doing business as an agent without authorisation.
"In the future, uniform rules will apply to determine which law is applicable, for example in processing claims for compensation of damages resulting from a traffic accident where more than one legal system is affected due to the differing nationalities of those involved in the accident. Following lengthy negotiations, we have succeeded in attaining a compromise which will bring significantly more legal certainty and clarity to the citizens of Europe," emphasised Brigitte Zypries, Germany’s Federal Minister of Justice who led the negotiations for the Council under the German Presidency.
The Regulation will be issued under what is known as the co-decision procedure, which means that both the Council and the European Parliament must approve the legal instrument before it can take effect. There were a series of differences of opinion between the Council and Parliament with regard to the Regulation’s area of application and the content of specific provisions. The Conciliation Committee has now been able to agree on a common position on all unresolved points. With regard to the particularly difficult area of press offences, the European Commission will submit a report by 2008 at the latest.
Following the Rome Convention of 1980 on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations, the Rome II Regulation, which takes its name from that Convention, is the second legal instrument which provides for uniform provisions on private international law within the European Community. For the first time, these rules are contained in a Regulation rather than in a Convention under international law.
In factual situations which have a connection to several legal systems, private international law determines which of these legal systems is to be applied in a concrete case. For example, if German tourists become involved in an accident in Hungary which is caused by the driver of a lorry registered in Greece, private international law determines whether the claim for compensation of damages is to be judged under Hungarian, German or Greek law.
The Member States of the Community currently have differing rules of private international law and differing rights with regard to compensation of damages. If the German tourists brought an action in Germany, the German court would apply Hungarian law; but other States might well reach a different outcome. Therefore, the same set of facts could lead to different outcomes depending upon the state in which a legal dispute is decided.
The Rome II Regulation provides that in the case of torts, as a general rule the law of the state in which the damage occurred will apply.
Examples:
The compromises reached in the conciliation procedure must be confirmed by the Council and the European Parliament before the Rome II Regulation can take effect.
