3.1 As we have seen, the result of the developments discussed in Chapter 2 is that private international law issues in insurance and reinsurance, both in the context of jurisdiction and choice of law, are now governed by a complex patchwork of statutory schemes enacting into law various European Conventions and Directives, European Regulations as well as residual areas which remain governed by the common law. The existence of European rules, whether implemented by statute or applying directly, raises issues of interpretation which are discussed in this chapter. Some of the issues are common to all European legislation and will therefore apply to both jurisdiction and choice of law, in other areas more specific considerations will need to be addressed. But the underlying principle is one of uniformity. The aim of achieving a single European market, with consistency and uniformity throughout, would be undermined if the courts of each Member State interpreted community provisions in a different way.