The Rome II Regulation (EC) N
864/2007
is a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. For ...

regarding the

conflict of laws Conflict of laws (also called private international law) is the set of rules or laws a jurisdiction applies to a case, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction. This body of law deals with three broad t ...

on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations. From 11 January 2009, the Rome II Regulation created a harmonised set of rules within the European Union to govern

choice of law Choice of law is a procedural stage in the litigation of a case involving the conflict of laws when it is necessary to reconcile the differences between the laws of different legal jurisdictions, such as sovereign states, federated states (as in t ...

in civil and commercial matters (subject to certain exclusions, such as the application being manifestly incompatible with the public policy of the forum) concerning non-contractual

obligations An obligation is a course of action that someone is required to take, whether legal or moral. Obligations are constraints; they limit freedom. People who are under obligations may choose to freely act under obligations. Obligation exists when ther ...

. Additionally, in certain circumstances and subject to certain conditions, the parties may choose the law applicable to a non-contractual obligation. Analogous rules were established for contractual obligations by the Rome Convention of 1980. The Rome Convention has, in turn, been replaced by the

Rome I Regulation The Rome I Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations) is a regulation which governs the choice of law in the European Union. It is based ...

on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Reg. (EC) No. 593/2008). The regulation applies to all

EU member states The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

except

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Background

Initially submitted by the Commission in July 2003, an amended text was finally adopted on 11 July 2007 and published in the Official Journal on 31 July 2007. It applies to events arising since 11 January 2009. It may apply to obligations arising from events giving rise to damage occurring from an earlier date, 20 August 2007, although the text of the Regulation is unfortunately silent on this point.

The regulation includes specific rules for

tort A tort is a civil wrong that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable ...

delict Delict (from Latin ''dēlictum'', past participle of ''dēlinquere'' ‘to be at fault, offend’) is a term in civil and mixed law jurisdictions whose exact meaning varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction but is always centered on the notion of ...

(harm caused by failure to perform a duty) and specific categories of tort/delict, unjust enrichment, ''

negotiorum gestio ''Negotiorum gestio'' (, Latin for "management of business") is a form of spontaneous voluntary agency in which an intervenor or intermeddler, the ''gestor'', acts on behalf and for the benefit of a principal (''dominus negotii''), but without the ...

'' (acting as an agent without permission) and ''

culpa in contrahendo ''Culpa in contrahendo'' is a Latin expression meaning "fault in conclusion of a contract". It is an important concept in contract law for many civil law countries, which recognize a clear duty to negotiate with care, and not to lead a negotiating ...

'' (misleading negotiation of a contract).

Application

To accommodate concerns earlier raised by the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

at Second Reading stage in January 2007, the commission is mandated to draw up a study by December 2008 on applicable law in

defamation Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

and privacy disputes, which have been excluded from the Regulation as a result of the difficulties in agreeing appropriate choice of law rules for these matters. That study has not yet been formally published. This is in addition to their preparing a report within 4 years on the results of practical application of the Regulation, including a specific study of its effects in road traffic accident disputes.

United Kingdom

, following

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

, the regulation is

retained EU law The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (also known as the Great Repeal Act) is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that provides both for repeal of the European Communities Act 1972 (UK), European Communities A ...

within the UK, subject to minor amendments.UK Legislation
The Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations and Non-Contractual Obligations (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019
SI 834/2019, made 29 March 2019, accessed 17 September 2022

Notes

References

{{EU private international law

External links

text adopted.
European Commission tracking page on the proposal

Text initially proposed by the European Commission
(July 2003)
Text of Common Position adopted by the Council of Ministers
(September 2006)
Amendments proposed by the European Parliament at Second Reading
(January 2007)

Article for the Lawyer magazine, 15 January 2007
by

Diana Wallis Diana Paulette Wallis, (born 28 June 1954 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire) is a British former Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Yorkshire and the Humber. Wallis was first elected in 1999 and re-elected in 2004 and in 2009. ...

MEP, rapporteur for the Regulation in the European Parliament.
romeii.eu - Legislative materials and news on the Rome II Regulation
2007 in law Conflict of laws European Union regulations 2007 in the European Union Law of obligations