German Federal Labor Court refers Questions relating to Art. 9 and 28 Rome I to the CJEU

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On February 25, the German Federal Labor Court referred three questions relating to the interpretation of Art. 9 and 28 Rome I Regulation to the CJEU. They relate to the temporal scope of application of the Rome I Regulation on the hand and, and the (highly) disputed issue whether and to what extent Member States courts are required to apply foreign overriding mandatory provisions in general and overriding mandatory provisions of other Member States in particular. The following is an unofficial translation based on the court’s press release:

  1. Does the Rome I Regulation in accordance with Art. 28 exclusively apply to (employment) contracts if the contract was concluded (for the first time) after 16 December 2009 – or does it also apply if the parties agreed after 16 December 2009 to continue a previously concluded contract (without any changes)?
  2. Does Art. 9(3) Rome I Regulation (merely) exclude the direct application of overriding mandatory provisions of third states where the obligations arising out of the contract have not to be or have not been performed – or does it also exclude their indirect consideration in the law of the state whose laws govern the contract?
  3. Does the principle of cooperation embedded in Art. 4(3) TEU affect the decisions of national courts to apply overriding mandatory provisions of other Member States (directly or indirectly)?

Background:

The claimant is a Greek national and employed by the Greek State at the Greek primary school in Nuremberg (Germany). From  October 2010 through December 2012 the Greek State reduced his salary in accordance with the Greek Saving Laws No 3833/2010 und 3845/2010. The claimant asks for payment of the sums withheld. With its preliminary questions the German Federal Labor Courts wants to know whether and to what extent it is bound to apply the Greek Saving Laws.

The court’s press release is available here (in German).