The most modern PIL act in the Western Balkans: North Macedonia

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It took quite some time but the news is finally here: North Macedonia has an entirely new Private International Law Act.

The Act was adopted by the Assembly on February 4th 2020 and it was just published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia No. 32, on 10 February 2020. The Act is not available online yet but we will make sure to share it here as soon as it or an English translation is available.

The first draft of the Act was completed in 2015 and was much welcomed by experts and scholars in the region as it ensured compatibility with all relevant EU Regulations, including Rome I, Rome II, Rome III, Brussels I bis, Brussels II bis, Succession Regulation etc. Since then, the Draft Law had been waiting for discussion and adoption by the Assembly until recently. The wait was worth it since the law has been passed without any amendments which is even more groundbreaking given that the new Act is quite a departure from the previous PIL Act in force.

Until now, the Republic of North Macedonia had been applying the PIL Act enacted in 2007 (Official Gazette of Republic of Macedonia No 87/2007). An amendment of this act was made in 2010 specifically to provisions on choice of law (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia, No. 87/2007, 156/2010). While the rules on choice of law in contractual and non-contractual matters were updated to match the EU Conventions (and later Regulations), the Act of 2007 had stayed quite true to its predecessor – the Yugoslav PIL Act of 1982.

This new PIL Act of 2020 makes North Macedonia now the bearer of the most modern PIL Act in the Region of the Western Balkans. The last adopted PIL Act in this region was the Act of Montenegro, in force since 2014. Although other reforms of PIL Acts are underway in Serbia (since 2014) and Kosovo (since 2018) these countries and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue applying the Yugoslav PIL Act of 1982, while Albania’s PIL Act in force is that of 2011.

A more detailed report of the PIL developments in the region of the Western Balkans will be posted soon.

For queries about the Act, please contact Prof. Toni Deskoski at t.deskoski@pf.ukim.edu.mk, or Prof. Vangel Dokovski at v.dokovski@pf.ukim.edu.mk, or me at donike.qerimi@uni-pr.edu.