This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 001452 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PTER KJUS EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: EU COUNCIL AGREES ON "ROME II" REGULATION 
 
REF: USEU BRUSSELS 592 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers (JHA 
Council) on April 28 agreed on rules intended to 
ensure that courts in all EU member states apply the 
same law in the event of cross-border disputes on 
non-contractual obligations (Rome II).  The Council 
also reached consensus on a Framework Decision on 
the fight against organized crime but recorded 
persisting differences on the establishment of a 
European Evidence Warrant (EEW) for obtaining 
objects, documents and data for use in proceedings 
in criminal matters.  Visa, asylum and immigration 
issues debated at the Council meeting have been 
reported SEPTEL.  Full text of Council conclusions 
has been transmitted to EUR/ERA.  END SUMMARY. 
 
LAW APPLICABLE TO NON-CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  EU ministers reached a political agreement (by 
qualified-majority voting, with Estonia and Latvia 
voicing reservations) on a draft Regulation intended 
to ensure that courts in all EU member states apply 
the same law in the event of cross-border disputes 
on non-contractual obligations ("Rome II" 
Regulation).  The provisional deal, hailed by 
Commission Vice-President Frattini as ensuring 
greater legal certainty for EU citizens and 
companies, was reached after lengthy discussions 
over technicalities during which Austrian Justice 
Minister/Council Chair Prokop spared no effort to 
rally the Council behind a Presidency compromise. 
 
¶3.  Generally, the applicable law will be the law 
applicable to non-criminal offences in the country 
where the damage occurs, "irrespective of the 
country in which the event giving rise to the damage 
occurred and irrespective of the country or 
countries in which the indirect consequences of that 
event occur," according to Council conclusions. 
However, several provisions allow for derogations to 
this general rule and the draft "still gives the 
parties the option to select the law to be applied 
to their obligation."  Specific rules are also laid 
down for some non-contractual obligations, such as 
damage caused by a defective product, damage to the 
environment, and industrial action: 
 
--   With respect to damages caused by defective 
     products, "the general rule is that the law 
     applicable is the law of the country where the 
     person who sustained the damage is habitually 
     resident"; 
 
--   In the event of violation of the environment, 
     "the law applicable shall be the law of the 
     country where the damage arises unless the 
     victim chooses to select the law of the place 
     where the event giving rise to the damage 
     occurred"; 
 
--   Regarding industrial action, "the law 
     applicable to a non-contractual obligation in 
     respect of the liability of a person in the 
     capacity of a worker or an employer or the 
     organizations representing their professional 
     interests for damages caused by an industrial 
     action, pending or carried out, shall be the 
     law of the country where the action is to be or 
     has been taken." 
 
¶4.  In exceptional circumstances, the Commission 
will allow member states to negotiate and sign 
international agreements with countries outside the 
EU. 
¶5.  Member states had been negotiating this proposal 
for three years.  Discussions had long been focused 
on the issue of media libeling, which was finally 
excluded from the draft.  In case of media 
defamation, the applicable law will continue to 
depend on where the case is brought to justice.  No 
later than four years after the Regulation enters 
into force, the Commission shall report on the issue 
of the law applicable to non-contractual obligations 
arising out of traffic incidents and out of 
violations of privacy and rights relating to 
personality, including libeling.  The report will be 
complemented by proposals to adapt the Regulation, 
if necessary. 
FIGHT AGAINST ORGANIZED CRIME 
----------------------------- 
¶6.   Pending the lifting of some parliamentary and 
scrutiny reservations in the member states, the 
Council reached a consensus on a Framework Decision 
on the fight against organized crime.   According to 
the Council conclusions, "for the purposes of this 
Framework Decision, 'criminal organization' means a 
structured association, established over a period of 
time, of more than two persons, acting in concert 
with a view to committing offences which are 
punishable by deprivation of liberty or a detention 
order of a maximum of at least four years or a more 
serious penalty in order to obtain, directly or 
indirectly, a financial or other material benefit. 
Concerning the offences relating to participation in 
a criminal organization, each member state shall 
take the necessary measures to ensure that either 
the types of conduct related to a criminal 
organization described in (a) or the type of conduct 
described in (b) are regarded as offences: 
 
--   (a) conduct by any person who, with intent and 
     with knowledge of either the aim and general 
     activity of the organization or its intention 
     to commit the offences in question, actively 
     takes part in the organization's criminal 
     activities, including the provision of 
     information or material means, the recruitment 
     of new members and all forms of financing of 
     its activities, knowing that such participation 
     will contribute to the achievement of the 
     organization's criminal activities; 
 
--   (b) conduct by any person consisting in an 
     agreement with one or more persons that an 
     activity should be pursued, which if carried 
     out, would amount to the commission of offences 
     falling within the Framework Decision, even if 
     that person does not take part in the actual 
     execution of the activity. 
 
¶7.  Regarding penalties, each member state shall 
take the necessary measures to ensure that the 
offence referred to in (a) is punishable by a 
maximum term of imprisonment of at least between two 
and five years; or that the offence referred to in 
(b) is punishable by the same maximum term of 
imprisonment as the offence at which the agreement 
is aimed, or by a maximum term of imprisonment of at 
least between two and five years. 
 
EUROPEAN EVIDENCE WARRANT 
------------------------- 
 
¶8.  Ministers failed again to make substantial 
progress on a draft Framework Decision to establish 
a European evidence warrant (EEW) for obtaining 
objects, documents and data for use in proceedings 
in criminal matters (REFTEL).  The draft, which is 
based on the same approach to mutual recognition as 
the European arrest warrant, using the same 32 
offences, continues to be resisted by Germany, which 
invokes constitutional differences on the dual 
criminality requirement.  Germany called for the 
introduction of legally binding criteria defining 6 
of these 32 offences.  The other delegations and the 
Commission could not agree to that, but could only 
accept the inclusion of criteria of an advisory 
nature.  The matter was referred to Council working 
bodies with a view to exploring possibilities for a 
compromise.  Officials were also tasked to examine 
if the draft could cover telecom and electronic 
data. 
 
SURRENDER PROCEDURE WITH ICELAND AND NORWAY 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  Pending the lifting of some parliamentary 
reservations, the Council reached an agreement on a 
surrender procedure between the EU member states and 
Iceland and Norway. 
 
MISCELLANEOUS 
------------- 
 
¶10.  Among other issues: 
 
--   The Presidency reported about the "High Level 
     Dialogue on the Fight against Terrorism," the 
     first meeting of which is scheduled for May 10, 
     ¶2006.  Participants will include Austrian 
     Minister Prokop, EU CT Coordinator de Vries, 
     and Commission Vice-President Frattini.  Items 
     for discussion will be the EU Strategy and 
     Action Plan on terrorism; the EU Strategy and 
     Action plan on Radicalization and Recruitment; 
     and the UN Strategy and role in the fight 
     against terrorism; 
 
--   Over lunch, Frattini updated ministers on the 
     work of the European Parliament Temporary 
     Committee on Allegations concerning the use of 
     European countries by the CIA for the 
     transportation and illegal detention of 
     prisoners.  Frattini invited ministers to keep 
     cooperating with the EP; 
 
--   The Council approved a Recommendation on the 
     drawing up of agreements between EU police, 
     customs and other specialized law enforcement 
     services in relation to the prevention and 
     combating of crime. 
 
--   The Council agreed to a draft Decision on the 
     accession of the European Community to the 
     Hague Conference on private international law 
     (HCCH) that will be sent to the European 
     Parliament for its assent; 
 
--   The Council adopted a Regulation amending the 
     lists of insolvency proceedings, winding-up 
     proceedings and liquidators contained in a 2000 
     Regulation on insolvency proceedings; 
 
--   The Council agreed on the general framework of 
     a future strategy for the external dimension of 
     judicial cooperation in civil matters. 
 
--   The Presidency formally opened the "N-Lex" data 
     base intended to make it possible for every 
     citizen to consult the national legislation of 
     member states online.  Free-of-charge access 
     will not be limited to national law linked to 
     Community law but may include all areas of law. 
     The system, which will remain experimental for 
     some time, currently covers the access to 
     legislative databases of 22 member states. 
     With a view to overcoming linguistic barriers, 
     the thesaurus used for the indexation of 
     European legislative acts ("Eurovoc") has been 
     integrated in the system as a dictionary so 
     that users will be able to search for terms in 
     a foreign language. 
 
McKINLEY