Brussels, 22/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 20 November, the committee on legal affairs of the EP approved at first reading the Rome I regulation, which aims to improve the recognition and implementation in all of the member states of rulings on civil and commercial cases. This green light to the 2005 proposal of the European Commission on the Rome I regulation (EUROPE 9090) could be given due to the unanimous adoption of the report by the Romanian member Cristian Dumitrescu (PES). The vote on this regulation is scheduled for 19 November at the plenary session of the Parliament in Brussels.
Once it is adopted, this legislation will provide common European rules on the jurisdiction applicable in cases of cross-border disputes. Rules governing the choice of the law applicable are needed to improve the application of court rulings from one member state to another. If the citizens are free to choose the court to which they bring their complaint, it is important that they are not able to choose the jurisdiction of one member state over that of another because the law is more favourable to their cause there (“forum-shopping”). By and large, two people concluding a contract are free to choose which will be the law applicable in case of dispute. If this choice is not made, the regulation provides to lay down Community rules governing the choice of applicable law, in order to avoid “forum-shopping”. The MEPs stated that in the case of a contract concluded between a professional and a consumer, it is the latter who must have the advantage of choosing the court. One of the amendments adopted by the committee stipulates that in case of a dispute, the applicable law must generally be the one which is most familiar, in other words the law of the country in which the consumer is usually resident. However, in the case of a goods sales contract, the committee took the view that the applicable law should be that of the country where the vendor is usually resident. As regards individual employment contracts, when the applicable law is not determined by the parties, the contract will be subject to the law of the country of the usual place of work of the employee. Obligations resulting from family connections, the matrimonial regime, wills and successions, for example, are excluded from the scope of application of the regulation. Lastly, the Parliamentary committee calls on the European Commission to present a report on the application of this regulation, no later than before the end of the second year following its entry into force. (B.C.)