Press Release: Europeans citizens and businesses to benefit from greater legal certainty and greater access to justice

Following endorsement by the Council, and by the European Parliament in November, a regulation harmonising the rules concerning the law applicable to contractual obligations (to be known as 'Rome I') has been approved. The regulation, building on the fundamental principle that the governing law of a contract is that agreed by the contracting parties, provides citizens and companies of the European Union the security to enter into a contract in the knowledge that courts in all the Member States will apply the same principles on those cross-border elements of contractual disputes. In turn, this will facilitate the mutual recognition of court decisions in the European Union.