Overview: the Rome Convention and Rome I Regulation

Over the last thirty years in the EU, the Rome Convention of 1980 (hereafter “the Rome Convention”), has governed choice-of-law rules for contractual obligations. The Rome Convention can be divided into several key elements. First, Articles 3 and 4 are the core provisions of the Convention. Article 3 deals with the applicable law chosen by the parties while Article 4 contains the provisions for ascertaining the applicable law in the absence of choice. Second, there are provisions dealing with the mandatory rules of the forum country or public policy. Third, there are provisions relating to choice of law rules fit for specific aspects of a contract, such as material and formal validity, interpretation, performance and the quantification of contractual damages. The Rome Convention does not specifically tailor its rules for application to electronic commercial transactions.

In the early 2000s, the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Parliament were in favour of converting the Rome Convention of 1980 into a Community Regulation and modernising certain provisions of the Rome Convention, making them clearer and more precise.