Lex.

Rome I

Article 4

Applicable law in the absence of choice

1. To the extent that the law applicable to the contract has not been chosen in accordance with Article 3 and without prejudice to Articles 5 to 8, the law governing the contract shall be determined as follows:

(a) a contract for the sale of goods shall be governed by the law of the country where the seller has his habitual residence;

(b) a contract for the provision of services shall be governed by the law of the country where the service provider has his habitual residence;

(c) a contract relating to a right in rem in immovable property or to a tenancy of immovable property shall be governed by the law of the country where the property is situated;

(d) notwithstanding point (c), a tenancy of immovable property concluded for temporary private use for a period of no more than six consecutive months shall be governed by the law of the country where the landlord has his habitual residence, provided that the tenant is a natural person and has his habitual residence in the same country;

(e) a franchise contract shall be governed by the law of the country where the franchisee has his habitual residence;

(f) a distribution contract shall be governed by the law of the country where the distributor has his habitual residence;

(g) a contract for the sale of goods by auction shall be governed by the law of the country where the auction takes place, if such a place can be determined;

(h) a contract concluded within a multilateral system which brings together or facilitates the bringing together of multiple third-party buying and selling interests in financial instruments, as defined by Article 4(1), point (17) of Directive 2004/39/EC, in accordance with non-discretionary rules and governed by a single law, shall be governed by that law.

2. Where the contract is not covered by paragraph 1 or where the elements of the contract would be covered by more than one of points (a) to (h) of paragraph 1, the contract shall be governed by the law of the country where the party required to effect the characteristic performance of the contract has his habitual residence.

3. Where it is clear from all the circumstances of the case that the contract is manifestly more closely connected with a country other than that indicated in paragraphs 1 or 2, the law of that other country shall apply.

4. Where the law applicable cannot be determined pursuant to paragraphs 1 or 2, the contract shall be governed by the law of the country with which it is most closely connected.

Holdings

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C-135/1518 Oct 2016

Republik Griechenland v Grigorios Nikiforidis

Article 9(3) of Regulation No 593/2008 bars the court of the forum from applying, as legal rules, overriding mandatory provisions other than those of the forum State or of the State where the contractual obligations have to be or have been performed. The forum court may nevertheless take such other overriding mandatory provisions into account as matters of fact, provided that the national law applicable to the contract under that regulation so allows. The principle of sincere cooperation in Article 4(3) TEU does not alter that result.

C-191/1528 Jul 2016

Verein für Konsumenteninformation v Amazon EU Sàrl

Personal data processing by an undertaking engaged in electronic commerce is governed by the law of the Member State to which that undertaking directs its activities, where the processing is carried out in the context of the activities of an establishment in that Member State. Whether that is so is for the national court to determine.

C-359/1421 Jan 2016

"ERGO Insurance" SE v "If P&C Insurance" AS and "Gjensidige Baltic" AAS v "PZU Lietuva" UAB DK

Article 14(b) of Directive 2009/103 does not lay down a conflict-of-law rule for an action for indemnity between insurers in circumstances like those at issue in the main proceedings. Where the rules of liability in tort, delict and quasi-delict applicable to the accident under Article 4 et seq. of Regulation No 864/2007 apportion the obligation to compensate for the damage, the law applicable to an action for indemnity by the insurer of a tractor unit, after it has compensated the victims of an accident caused by that vehicle's driver, against the insurer of the trailer coupled to it at the time of the accident is determined under Article 7 of Regulation No 593/2008.