Illeciti marittimi e diritto internazionale privato: per una norma ad hoc nella legge n. 218/1995?

Due to their intrinsically international character and very frequent cross-border implications, maritime torts typically involve private international law matters. Therefore, with regard to cases and issues falling outside the scope of application of the relevant uniform law Conventions the problem arises of determining the applicable law according to the conflict-of-law rules laid down - at EU law level - in the Rome II Regulation (Regulation (EC) No. 864/2007), mostly based on territorial connecting factors. The implementation of such rules, however, is sometimes critical, in particular in presence of “external torts” (i.e., torts which produce damage either on several ships or outside a ship) occurring on the High Seas; with respect to these cases, some national legislations (e.g., the Dutch civil code) have introduced ad hoc rules providing for the application of the lex fori. In the light of the above, the present contribution assesses the opportunity to adopt the same solution on the occasion of the planned revision of the 1995 Italian legislation on private international law (Law No. 218/1995), concluding, however, that such integration “ab externo” of the Regulation is not ultimately required.