Reflections about applicable law to international contracts in absence of choice in the European Union law

Abstract

The Rome Convention of 1980 was over two decades the unifying legal body concerning the provisions on the law applicable to international contracts in the European Union. This legal instrument brought about a revolution in terms of uniform rules of private international law, because any court of a Member State would apply the same conflict rule to establish the lex contractus, thereby increasing legal certainty by reducing forum shopping. However, the provisions on the law applicable to the contract in absence of choice of party (Art. 4 Rome Convention) were not uniformly interpreted by the legal doctrine, or the abundant case law of the state parties. With the transformation of the Rome Convention into a European Union instrument Rome I Regulation has been used to include changes in Article 4 in order to solve the many problems of its predecessor, with a view to achieving a high level of certainty in the European Union. This article analyzes the innovations included in the provision, in order to establish a parallel between Article 4 Rome Convention and the Article 4 Rome I Regulation.