Choice of Law for Contract of Carriage of Goods in the European Union

This article analyses the law applicable to contract of carriage of goods under the European Union choice of law rules. It analyses two decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU), and a decision of the English High Court on choice of law rules for contract of carriage of goods under the Rome Convention. The Rome Convention is then compared with Rome I Regulation. The author observes and concludes that some of the complex problems of determining the law applicable to a contract of carriage of goods through the default rules under the Rome Convention appear to have been improved under Rome I, which creates more certainty. However, the Rome I regime for determining the law applicable to a contract of carriage of goods is by no means perfect, and a resort to some other case law decisions from the CJEU may prove to be helpful in the future.