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

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

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. Fo ...

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 Legal case, case, Transactional law, transaction, or other occurrence that has connections to more than one jurisdiction."Conflict o ...

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 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. 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 The Rome Convention has, in turn, been replaced by the Rome I Regulation on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Reg.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 population of over 449million as of 2024. The EU is often de ...

except

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Background

Initially submitted by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

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, other than breach of contract, 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 cri ...

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 th ...

'' (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 negotiatin ...

'' (misleading negotiation of a contract).

Exclusion of defamation and privacy cases

Because of the difficulty in reaching a consensus on defamation and privacy cases, the regulation excludes these issues, instead directing the Commission to draw up a new regulation by the end of 2008. A similar directive was issued in 2012. A 2023 law, modeled on the anti-SLAPP laws of many American states, protects journalists from harassing lawsuits filed by people they have criticized.

United Kingdom

, following

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

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