Art. 7 of Regulation No. 864/07 (so called Rome II Regulation) provides for a specific conflict of laws rule concerning liability for environmental damage, which empowers the person sustaining the damage to choose between the application of the lex loci damni and the application of the lex loci actus. The present article analyses the rationale underpinning the attribution to only one of the parties concerned (the person sustaining the damage) of the unilateral right to choose the law applicable to their relationship and it concludes that the provision at issue does not purport to alter the equal balance between such parties, as it rather aims at ensuring a high level of environmental protection, both by preventing a race to the bottom of the relevant national legal standards and by discouraging the phenomenon known as environmental dumping. Furthermore, the article compares the specific provision laid down by art. 7 of Rome II Regulation with the general conflict of laws rule provided by art. 4 and art. 14 of the same instrument, with particular reference to the role played – in the peculiar context of environmental liability – by party autonomy and to the different relevance attributed by the said rules to the lex loci damni and to the lex loci actus.
European Union, Environmental Protection and Private International Law: Article 7 of Rome II Regulation
IVALDI, PAOLA
2013-01-01
Abstract
Art. 7 of Regulation No. 864/07 (so called Rome II Regulation) provides for a specific conflict of laws rule concerning liability for environmental damage, which empowers the person sustaining the damage to choose between the application of the lex loci damni and the application of the lex loci actus. The present article analyses the rationale underpinning the attribution to only one of the parties concerned (the person sustaining the damage) of the unilateral right to choose the law applicable to their relationship and it concludes that the provision at issue does not purport to alter the equal balance between such parties, as it rather aims at ensuring a high level of environmental protection, both by preventing a race to the bottom of the relevant national legal standards and by discouraging the phenomenon known as environmental dumping. Furthermore, the article compares the specific provision laid down by art. 7 of Rome II Regulation with the general conflict of laws rule provided by art. 4 and art. 14 of the same instrument, with particular reference to the role played – in the peculiar context of environmental liability – by party autonomy and to the different relevance attributed by the said rules to the lex loci damni and to the lex loci actus.
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