Rome II has been subject to severe criticism. In a consultation process launched by the Commission in spring 2002, the majority of the contributors, including the UK government and major organisations, expressed doubts about the need for the measure; and according to the AA, the Commission again failed to address these concerns at Monday's hearing.
Phil Murphy, European Public Affairs Manager at the Advertising Association (AA), told OUT-LAW.COM:
"Judging by the submissions made to the Commission last year, and the content of the hearing, the Commission has much to reflect upon. The AA remains concerned that the Commission has failed to provide any justification of the need for a Rome II measure, and furthermore that it has seemingly no intention of backing up its ideas or reasoning until the eleventh hour, when a proposal is actually published. This goes against all the talk of better lawmaking and governance by the Commission.
"Rome II will challenge the core principles of the EU Internal Market, and may wreak havoc with the agreed Commission policy of the creation of a true Internal Market by imposing the country of destination control on commercial communications."
The AA and other critics of Rome II argue that the draft Regulation is not justified under principles of in the EC Treaty which require that any legislative action of the Community should not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the proper function of the internal market.
The hearing held in Brussels this week marked the end of the consultation process. According to the AA, however, no real progress was made during the discussion.
It observed that the Commission was unwilling to discuss problems that the advertising and marketing industry could face under the current draft, particularly provisions related to intellectual property, defamation and unfair competition.
Murphy concludes: "Let's see the studies and justification and let's have a thorough impact assessment before we proceed to the next stage."
