Evropské mezinárodní právo soukromé a české právo

One of the branches of law which, in connection with the Czech Republic’s accession to the European Union, undergo major changes is private international law, both conflict of laws and procedure. At first sight, this situation may appear surprising since for a long time, the regulation of private international law and the international law of procedure in the Czech Republic has met the requirements of European standards. This is in particular evidenced by the Act No. 97/1963 Coll. to regulate Private International Law and Procedure which, except for some minor amendments, is still in force. Significant for the Czech international private law is also the traditionally high participation of the Czech Republic and/or former Czechoslovakia in international conventions concerning this subject-matter. However, in connection with the EU accession, important changes arise in this area and they, somewhat surprisingly – with regard to the stabilized standards of the Czech regulation and participation in international conventions – appear more radical than the changes in the substantive private law. This situation, basically, is a result of the fact that the European private international law and procedure have recently been dominated by Community Regulations, the legal instruments, which shall be directly applicable in the Czech Republic starting from May 1, 2004 onwards. The article further looks at the European private international law dealt with from the point of view of the EC legislative procedure as well as the sources of law. The author believes that the so-called Community Conventions under Art. 293 ETC appear to be a more acceptable form of unification of conflicting and procedural rules than the form of Community Regulations. The former, after all, allow for a certain space for the EU Member States: it is the states themselves that decide to what extent they shall be bound by an international convention, while the regulations do not provide the national courts with such discretion. We can see, however, the unification trends in the European private international law just in favour of Regulations, i.e. in the opposite direction. The following part of the article examines the impact of the European private international law upon the Czech law, which is both direct and indirect. As a problem with regard to the future period appear, above all, the implementations of Community Directives, which involve certain conflict rules. This is because, inevitably, such acts of implementation go together with a chain of amendments of the domestic private international law while this law, on the contrary, ought to be stable and transparent. A critical attitude is taken towards the Amendment of the Private International Law Act which, as a consequence of the so-called Brussels Regulations, introduces a new concept into the Czech law, namely the declaration of enforceability of foreign judgments. From the Czech law point of view such element represents a step backwards. The question remains whether this amendment was necessary, since, inter alia, this complicated procedure is likely to be repealed within the EU prospectively. In the conclusion, the author gives her opinion on the forthcoming Community Regulations Rome I and Rome II. One more time, the adoption of either regulation will signifantly limit the scope of application of the domestic rules of private international laws on the part of the EU Member States. Consequently, the issue of precise delimitation of mutual interrelations of individual legal instruments whose application should be considered arises and gains in importance.