Have there been any developments in the Rome II treaty regarding choice of law for defamation claims?
As you will be aware, the final version of Rome II on non-contractual obligations excludes any express determination of harmonised provisions for what is generically termed the law on privacy. The difficulty in achieving consensus between the member states was producing unconscienable delays, thus justifying its exclusion from the final draft, now approved and due to be applied from the 11th January 2009. As a sop to Cerberus, the Commission was to present a detailed study in defamation and allied issues by the end of 2008. I have not noticed whether such a report has been issued. There are many difficulties with this area of law but the most interesting is the attempt to produce consensus on the initiatory and terminatory theories of jurisdiction and choice of law. It is natural that the publishers would wish preference to be given to the laws of the place in which the dissemination of the contentious content was initiated. Whereas those whose privacy is invaded or reputation is damag
