In the given case study, a Belgium company can argue that even once a selection of law is formed and all other components related to the situation are specified, the choice of law still must remain flexible. They might demand that regardless of whether a court or tribunal preference has preceded the law selection, this rule should apply. While no significant changes are intended in comparison to the Convention on the Rules Applicable to the Rome Convention, the phrasing of this Regulation should be as close to Article 14 of Regulation No 864 as possible (Regulation, 2008). On the other hand, a UAE company may state that in the absence of a choice of law, they should determine the regulation under the legislation designed for this specific type of contract. Where the contract cannot be classified as one of the prescribed types or its aspects fall into more than one designated form, the host country’s law should control it (Regulation, 2008). The UAE Company can also file a countersuit seeking an order requiring the Belgium Company to pay EUR 150.000 in remuneration for the unfair dismissal of their concession agreement.
The position of the Brussels court could be inclined to the UAE Company’s side. The reason is that customer and personal employment contracts were merely crafted out of the general rule supplying for the regulation of party-selected law and subjected to special rules in the Rome Convention. These rules allow discussion board courts to follow the legislation of the consumer’s residential country and the law of the employee’s place of employment if those regulations are more protective than the law chosen by the parties. However, inviting courts to defend the losing party in contracts is the doctrine’s narrower and perhaps less ambitious goal.
If the UAE Court had jurisdiction over this matter, its position could be derived from its government regulatory and economic policies such as competition law and securities regulation. Whether the UAE court can apply these rules interferes with its principle: the taboo of public law. According to the traditional view, which one commentator described as “the most limiting view,” a court in one country could not pertain to the legislation of another (Buxbaum, 2008). Courts holding this perspective will thus decrease the application of many international mandatory rules solely on this basis: even though they asserted that foreign rules required application, they would be barred from doing so if it fell within the bounds of the taboo.
The court system contemplating the implementation of mandatory law abroad faces the same challenges as any other type of foreign rule: difficulties in properly determining and analyzing the content of another country’s law. The UAE Court, therefore, might face the additional challenge of determining if the regulation in question is, in fact, mandatory. One usual method of shaping this question is to enquire whether the rule “wishes” to apply irrespective of the law otherwise relevant. That is, whether the legislative interest underlying the principle is such that it should apply to the appropriate transaction or relationship from the perspective of the enacting state. In some instances, the relevant legislation may include a clear and specific provision on this subject. Nevertheless, in most cases, it does not, leaving the message board court to determine whether it requires application solely based on its content.
References
Buxbaum, H. L. (2008). Mandatory Rules in Civil Litigation: Status of the Doctrine Post-Globalization. American Review of International Arbitration, 18.
Regulation (EC) no 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (rome I). (2008). Rome I Regulation. Web.