Explicit Legislative Characterisation of Overriding Mandatory Provisions in EU Directives
This seminar is organised jointly with the Conflict of Laws Discussion Group
The EU regime for the conflict of laws prescribes that an ‘overriding mandatory provision’ (OMP) of the forum state may apply to a cross-border contract, regardless of the otherwise applicable contract law. Characterising a provision as such an OMP has traditionally been the task of the judiciary. This has however changed as the EU legislator has started setting out such OMP characterisations explicitly, which this paper addresses with regard to Directives. Two examples are discussed which reveal that their explicit legislative characterisations of OMPs can benefit legal certainty, yet they were not properly drafted by the EU and correctly transposed into national law by the Member States. More generally, the explicit legislative characterisation causes tensions of competence between legislators and courts on both the EU and national levels, and it has side effects on other existing and future Directives. Finally, the extraterritorial effect of OMPs is intensified and therefore requires the legislator to seek international alignment.
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Please note that IECL discussion group meetings are normally open only to researchers affiliated with the IECL or members of the Oxford Law Faculty. If you have a special interest in one of the topics being discussed and would like to request being admitted to the event as an outside guest attendee, please get in touch with Professor Birke Häcker in advance of the meeting.