German Article on Rome II

On 11 July 2007, Regulation (EC) No. 864/2007 on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (Rome II) has been adopted.

Stefan Leible and Matthias Lehmann (both Bayreuth) have now written an article on Rome II which has been published in the German legal journal „Recht der Internationalen Wirtschaft“ (RIW 2007, 721 et seq.):

“Die neue EG-Verordnung über das auf außervertragliche Schuldverhältnisse anzuwendende Recht (“Rom II”)”

In their article, Leible and Lehmann give an overview of the scope of application and functioning of the new Regulation and comment on the most important rules by means of several examples.

In principle, the authors welcome Rome II for establishing a uniform measure on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations and creating more legal certainty. Nevertheless, it is criticised that non-contractual obligations arising out of violations of privacy and rights relating to personality, including defamation are excluded from the scope of application according to Art. 1 (2) (g) Rome II. However, according to Art. 30 (2) Rome II, the Commission shall submit a study on the situation in the field of the law applicable to non-contractual obligations arising out of violations of privacy and rights relating to personality no later than 31 December 2008. Thus, there is still an option that Community rules on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations arising out of violations of rights relating to personality and in particular press offences will be adopted in the future.

See also our previous posts on the adoption of Rome II and on the publication in the Official Journal.