European Traffic Law days debates Traffic accidents abroad

Publication date: 19 October 2007

Still more clarity needed in the EU 17-19th October 2007

Organised by the Institute for European Traffic Law (IEVR) in co-operation with the Academy of European Law (ERA) the eighth European Traffic Law Days took place from 17-19 October in Luxembourg. Leading European traffic law experts discussed various issues including the future legal situation applicable to traffic accidents involving residents from more than one EU Member State.

In January 2009 when the EU Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (Rome II Regulation) enters into force there will still not be uniform legal protection for EU citizens in Europe according to Ansgar Staudinger law professor at the University of Bielefeld. Rome II should create a set of rules to determine, among other things, which law is applicable to international road traffic accidents. However,
“One of the Member States, Denmark, is expected to opt out of the regulation. For another, in a number of EU countries the inter-governmental Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Traffic Accidents will take precedence,” Staudinger said, speaking at the Traffic Law Days. “This coexistence is hardly compatible with the EU’s internal market. We see situations where a claimant is in a position to choose the jurisdiction and consequently the corresponding system.”
 

For the mutual recognition of judicial decisions in civil matters it is indispensable that those decisions are based on the same private international law in all EU Member States, according to Staudinger. “The Rome II Regulation is well suited as a legal framework here,” Staudinger suggested. “It covers all road traffic accidents and the resulting damages and thus provides a practical, simple system that takes contractual relations between the involved parties into consideration.”

He pointed out that for the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Traffic Accidents, the signatories to which include several non-EU countries; there is no court of ultimate resort. “For Rome II the European Court of Justice is the relevant court in case of doubt. The European Commission should consider appropriate follow-up measures for after the regulation’s entry into force.”

Another "challenge for the internal market", the international registration of vehicles, was introduced by Michael Nissen, legal adviser at the German Automobile Association (ADAC). "Problems arise especially in connection with the registration tax levied by a majority of Member States. When an EU citizen moves from one Member State that levies this kind of tax to another that also does, and re-registers his car, he has to pay again. There is no refund system in such a case," Nissen said.

The question what is the right place to register one's car may also prove to be a problem, according to Nissen. "Given the increasing cross-border mobility of EU citizens it is not always easy to decide which country is the habitual residence. A long-term objective for the EU would be a uniform system of licence numbers and registration procedures. Before we have a common record of car owners, it would already be an improvement if Member States could provide comprehensible multilingual information on their registration procedures," Nissen suggested.

Among other issues discussed at the conference was the role of punitive damages in road traffic accidents. Establishment of a working group was considered to initially determine the status quo, on the basis of which, the fundamental problems involved in punitive damages will be discussed.

The experts also looked at European initiatives for road safety, for example the introduction of black boxes (accident data recorders in private cars) Europe-wide as presented by Hélène Wetzel of TCS.
Finally, current developments in European law and initiatives and developments in the harmonisation of European civil law were discussed. Experience of the implementation of the fifth Directive; elements of a sixth Directive (discussion on the progress achieved with the suggestions made during Trier VII); minor accidents (improved enforcement of low-value claims involving traffic accidents abroad) and the statute of limitations (European Parliament initiative).
This, the eighth European Traffic Law Days hosted 350 participants from more than 30 countries, among them all EU member states plus Norway, Switzerland and the Balkan countries. Fourteen percent of the participants were from the new Member States of the EU.