Risarcimento del danno da sinistri stradali : è già tempo di riforma per il regolamento Roma II?

This article addresses Regulation EC No 864/2007 in so far as it deals with traffic accidents, at the aim of investigating whether there is an actual need for amendments to the rules applicable in this field. Along with the studies conducted by several experts for the European Institutions, in view of the revision that will be shortly conducted according to Article 30 of the Regulation, this article considers firstly some general problem raised by the need to reconcile the Rome II Regulation with the Motor Insurance Directives (MIDs), and to assess its relationship with the Hague Convention of 4 May 1971 on the Law Applicable to Traffic Accidents. Secondly, some more specific issues pertaining to the interpretation and application of the Regulation are dealt by, in light of two recent Italian judgments. It is submitted that the coordination between the regulation and the MIDs can be achieved through the interpretation of the different legal texts in the light of their respective scopes and objects. On the contrary, the impact of the application of the Hague Convention definitely needs to be addressed by the EU legislator, in order to ensure the consistency of the solutions in the European judicial area. Finally, with regard to the difficulties of interpretation of specific connecting factors provided for by the Regulation, it appears that most of the difficulties highlighted by Scholars and faced by judges are due, on one hand, to an inaccurate drafting – that can surely be improved – and, on the other hand, to the lack of explicit and detailed solutions with regard to general problems, such as the treatment of foreign law, the law applicable to the preliminary questions, and characterization.