Comparative study on the situation in the 27 Member States as regards the law applicable to non-contractual obligations arising out of violations of privacy and rights relating to personality

On 11 July 2007 the European Parliament and the Council adopted the "Rome II" Regulation on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations (OJ L 199, 31.7.2007, p. 40). Under Article 1(2)(g), "non-contractual obligations arising out of violations of privacy and rights relating to personality, including defamation" are excluded from the Regulation's scope. As a result, conflict-of-law rules in this field are not harmonised at Community level and the courts in the Member States continue to apply their own private international law. Against this background, the European Commission concluded a contract with MainStrat to obtain a comparative study on the situation in the 27 Member States as regards the law applicable to non-contractual obligations arising out of violations of privacy and rights relating to personality. The Commission, following the invitation by the European Parliament and the Council in the frame of Article 30 of the Rome II Regulation, will submit, not later than December 2008, a study on the situation in the field of the law applicable to non-contractual obligations arising out of violations of privacy and rights relating to personality. MainStrat has produced this Study Report, which will be used as input in the preparation of the Commission's study report. The study is based on a thorough legal research, and on the feedback provided by National and European Administrations, as well as professionals from many judicial and non-judicial sectors across all 27 Member States. This includes general and specialized lawyers, judges, media and press associations, members of national administrations, and other public servants. The feedback was collected during surveys carried out from mid September 2008 to mid October 2008, on a selected group of over 10,000 professionals across all 27 EU Member States. One of the main features of this consultation has been the detailed quality of the comments provided by the interviewees. Also, 27 National Reports, based on our legal and contextual research on the various national realities, are provided in this Study.