Private International Law within the European Union

Overview

Key facts of the Private International Law within the European Union programme at the Radboud University

• Nowadays it is more and more common that legal relationships have a cross-border character. We sign contracts with people who reside in another country, we work in international companies, and we buy goods via Internet. In every case like this there is one very important legal question that arises: which law is applicable to the given case? Such cross-border legal relationships are even more common within the EU which provides freedom of movement.
• In this context, different conflict of rules being in force in different Member States can be understood as an obstacle to freedom of movement. That is the reason why the EU tries to create unified private international law in some certain areas of private law, like contractual obligations. But those EU activities are only the part of the bigger process, which has stated many decades ago, by states signing international agreement, mostly within other international organization, which is The Hague Conference on Private International Law.
• In the introductory part of the course the main sources of private international law – domestic regulations, international conventions and EU secondary law – will be presented, with special focus on their relations towards each other. Along with the EU, being one of the most important international legislator in this matter, the Hague Conference of Private International Law and its work will be described.