Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
CHOICE OF LAW FOR CONTRACTS OF CARRIAGE OF GOODS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
Chukwuma Okoli*
This article analyses the law applicable to contracts of carriage of goods under the European Union choice of law rules. It analyses two decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) and a decision of the English High Court on choice of law rules for contract of carriage of goods under the Rome Convention.
I. INTRODUCTION
The law that applies to a contract is of considerable legal and commercial significance.1 Courts of Member States under Art.3 of both the Rome Convention and the Rome I Regulation are generally mandated to respect the right of parties to a commercial transaction to make an express choice of law, or an implied choice of law that can be demonstrated with reasonable certainty from the terms of the contract and the circumstances of the case.2
* PhD Candidate/Teaching Fellow at the University of Luxembourg, and recipient of the Fonds National de la Recherche (“FNR”) Grant, Luxembourg. This comment is related to the author’s PhD research project titled “The Significance of Escape Clauses and their associated Connecting Factors in European Union Applicable Law Rules in the Law of Obligations”, which is funded by the FNR. I wish to specially thank Professor Dr Gilles Cuniberti for his supervision and support of my research project and in particular some exposure to civil law perspectives. I also wish to thank my colleague Wilfried Bassale for his comments on an earlier draft of the article. I also wish to thank the reviewer for helpful comments on the earlier draft. As usual, I take sole responsibility for the content of the work.
The following abbreviations are used:
Car Trim: Car Trim GmbH v Key Safety Systems Srl (C-381/08) [2010] ECR I-1255;
ECJ: Court of Justice of the European Union, previously Court of Justice of the European Communities;
Giuliano-Lagarde Report: Report on the Convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations by Mario Giuliano and Paul Lagarde [1980] OJ C282/1;
Haeger & Schmidt: Haeger & Schmidt GmbH v Mutuelles du Mans assurances IARD (MMA IARD) and others (C-305/13) [2015] 2 WLR 175;
ICF v Balkenende: Intercontainer Interfrigo SC (ICF) v Balkenende Oosthuizen (C-133/08) [2009] ECR I-9687;
Rome Convention: Rome Convention (on the law applicable to contractual obligations [1980] OJ L266;
Rome I: Rome I Regulation (EC) No. 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations [2008] OJ L177/6;
Schlecker v Boedeker: Schlecker (t/a Firma Anton Schlecker) v Boedeker (C-64/12) [2014] QB 320;
The Wisdom C: Martrade Shipping & Transport GmbH v United Enterprises Corp (The Wisdom C) [2014] EWHC 1884; [2014] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 198; [2015] 1 WLR 1.
1. See Rome Convention, Section 10 and Rome I, Section 12. Rome I, Art.29 provides that it shall apply from 17 December 2009. It replaces the Rome Convention.
2. See also Rome I, Recital 11.
CHOICE OF LAW FOR CONTRACTS OF CARRIAGE OF GOODS IN THE EU
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