Towards a Norwegian Codification of Choice-of-Law Rules

This issue of Oslo Law Review publishes some of the papers that were presented at a conference I organised at the University of Oslo on May 3rd and 4th, 2018. The purpose of the conference was to ensure international state-of-the-art input to the on-going codification of Norwegian rules on the law applicable to contractual and tort obligations. The work originated in the mandate the Norwegian Ministry of Justice had given me to submit a proposal for a statute on the law applicable to obligations. The proposal was written, inter alia, taking into consideration the papers presented at the conference. The Ministry of Justice sent the proposal to public consultation. At the moment of writing this introduction, the public consultation is still on-going.1 Rules on the applicable law, also known as conflict rules or choice-of-law rules, are part of that branch of the law that goes under the name of Private International Law. They are rules that permit the identification of which law governs a certain legal relationship when the relationship has international elements. If a Norwegian party purchases some goods from Germany, for example, these rules determine whether the sale is governed by Norwegian or by German law. If a Greek ship causes environmental damage off the coast of Norway, they determine whether the liability is subject to Greek or Norwegian law. Conflict rules are, in brief, provisions that permit the determination of which law is applicable. In Norway, conflict rules have traditionally not been codified. Exceptions include the Act on the law applicable to contracts of sale, implementing the 1955 Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to International Sale of Goods, and certain provisions or special statutes implementing obligations under international law, such as the Product Liability Act, implementing the 1973 Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Products Liability. Since Norway’s accession to the EEA Agreement in 1994, various conflict rules have been incorporated into Norwegian law as part of implementing legislative acts with EEA rele-