Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
REBUTTABLE ASSUMPTIONS
ICF v. Balkenende
It is now almost thirty years since the Convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations, between the (then) nine member states of the European Economic Community, was opened for signature in Rome on 19 June 1980.1 Eleven years later, on 1 April 1991, the Rome Convention entered into force in seven of those states, including the United Kingdom,2 as well as in Greece.3 A further thirteen years passed before the “Brussels Protocol” conferring jurisdiction on the Court of Justice (“ECJ”) to interpret the Convention (opened for signature in 1988)4 finally entered into force on 1 August 2004.5
1. For a consolidated version of the Convention, see [30 Dec 2005] OJ C334/1.
2. See Contracts (Applicable Law) Act 1990.
3. Greece had acceded to the Convention in 1994 (see [31 May 1984] OJ L146/1). Of the original contracting states, the Netherlands and Ireland ratified the Convention subsequently. All 27 Member States of the European Community have now acceded to the Convention (see [18 Nov 1992] OJ L333/1; [15 Jan 1997] OJ C15/10; [8 July 2005] OJ C169/1; [29 Dec 2007] OJ L347/1).
4. [31 May 1984] OJ L146/1.
5. The final three years of this delay can be attributed solely to Belgium, which was the last contracting state to ratify both the Brussels Protocol and the accompanying instrument (OJ L48/17 [20 Feb 1989]) allowing the Protocol to take effect without unanimous ratification. Ireland has yet to ratify the Protocol.
LLOYD’S MARITIME AND COMMERCIAL LAW QUARTERLY
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