[Ecommerce] To mark the end of the consultation process on Rome II... 2 Out-Law.com stories

[Manon Anne Ress]

Concerns over progress on cross-border disputes law
09/01/2003
The UK’s Advertising Association (AA) has criticised a European 
Commission hearing that took place this week on Rome II, a proposed EU 
Regulation which would determine which country’s laws would apply to 
certain disputes between parties based in different countries. The 
Regulation would apply only to non-contractual disputes, such as cases 
of defamation, liability for defective products and unfair competition 
including advertising and marketing.

Rome II has been subject to severe criticism. In a consultation process 
launched by the Commission in spring 2002, the majority of the 
contributors, including the UK government and major organisations, 
expressed doubts about the need for the measure; and according to the 
AA, the Commission again failed to address these concerns at Monday’s 
hearing.
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The hearing held in Brussels this week marked the end of the 
consultation process. According to the AA, however, no real progress was 
made during the discussion.

It observed that the Commission was unwilling to discuss problems that 
the advertising and marketing industry could face under the current 
draft, particularly provisions related to intellectual property, 
defamation and unfair competition.
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http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=concernsoverprogre1042130583&area=news

Results of EU consultation on law for cross-border disputes
12/11/2002
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Many contributors expressed doubts as to the necessity of Rome II, 
arguing that, in practice, businesses do not face problems with 
diverging rules on conflict of laws in the Member States. Others, 
however, took the view that Rome II would increase legal certainty.

The scope of Rome II was also criticised as “too extensive” by the 
majority of the contributors. It was almost unanimously suggested that 
issues related to intellectual property rights should be excluded from 
the scope of the Regulation.

Most of the commentators also objected to a general rule of the draft 
which states that, in cases where the act complained of and the place of 
damage are located in different countries, the applicable law is that of 
the country where the loss is sustained. It was argued that the rule 
would create unpredictability and that it would be difficult to apply in 
the case of financial loss.

Finally, the necessity to balance consumer protection and predictability 
of applicable law for product liability was emphasised, whilst 
provisions regarding unfair competition and unfair practices were 
welcomed by consumer groups and lawyers’ associations.

The Rome II draft can be found at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/unit/civil/consultation/index_en.htm

The results of the consultation and detailed submissions are available from:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/justice_home/unit/civil/consultation/contributions_en.htm 

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http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=resultsofeuconsul1037107533&area=news
-- 
Manon Anne Ress
Consumer Project on Technology
www.cptech.org
PO Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
manon.ress@cptech.org, voice: 1.202.387.8030, fax: 1.202.234.5176