Law applicable to divorce and legal separation regulation
The European Union Divorce Law Pact or Rome III Regulation, formally Council Regulation (EU) No. 1259/2010 of 20 December 2010 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the law applicable to divorce and legal separation is a regulation concerning the applicable law regarding divorce valid in 17 countries. The regulation dictates which law should be used in cross-border divorces, while which courts should be used is determined by the Brussels II Regulation, which is valid for all European Union countries, except Denmark. The agreement, approved by Council of the European Union on 20 December 2010, took effect in the 14 original contracting parties on 21 June 2012 and makes use of the enhanced co-operation mechanism which allows a minimum of nine EU member states to establish advanced integration or cooperation in an area within EU structures but without all members being involved. History The European Union has been moving towards a common applicable law provisions for divorce law. The European Commission promulgated the Brussels II regulation in March 2001 to settle which court of an EU member state was competent to hear cases related to divorce between the members of the European Union. This regulation, amended in 2005, determines which courts will have jurisdiction over what matters. But this regulation, which binds all member states save Denmark, does not address which law EU courts should use, and due to the large diversity in divorce laws in the EU, the results may vary strongly depending on which law is used. As one legal scholar noted: “The substantive law pertaining to legal separation continues to differ widely between the Member States: from Maltese law where there is a prohibition of divorce to Finnish of Swedish law where no actual grounds of divorce are required.” In addition, the law and legal culture in these countries varies on issues of divorce and marital property. Observers note that the generosity of settlements and alimony differ from state to state. With Brussels II holding that the first valid court to process a filing for divorce is the court that will have jurisdiction, and without a regulation on which law is used, it can matter a great deal where in the EU a ruling is made. Enhanced co-operation With the rise in cross border divorce in the EU, common rules were put forward to settle the issue of where and under which law trans-national couples can divorce in the EU. However Sweden blocked the new rules, fearing their impact on the applicability of its liberal divorce law (divorce law differs strongly, with Nordic liberalism being in contrast to more conservative countries with more complicated procedures such as Malta which has only recently permitted it). In order to allow those willing states to proceed without Sweden, in July 2008 nine countries put forward a proposal to use enhanced cooperation: Austria, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia and Spain. Belgium, Germany, Lithuania and Portugal were considering joining them. At a meeting of the justice ministers on 25 July