Prospects for recodification of private international law in Ukraine: Do conflict-of-laws rules require a new haven?

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the areas of modernisation of legislation governing private relations of a cross-border nature, proposed by the authors of the draft concept of updating (recodification) of the Civil Code of Ukraine (the CCU), and generalise foreign and international legal experience in developing acts of codification of private international law. The authors of the study considered private international law as a most dynamically developing branch due to the constant expansion of cross-border relations and requirements for constant updating and adaptation to the requirements of international civil turnover. The paper analysed the general factors and prerequisites for the recodification of private international law, comprehensively examined the expediency of abandoning autonomous codification and transferring conflict-of-law rules to the CCU. The study focused on current European experience and assessment of the impact of EU regulations on the national codifications of private international law of member states and third countries. To assess the idea of restoring the status of the CCU as a core act governing all public relations with private law content, the authors of the study addressed the negative consequences of interbranch codification of private international law in a number of post-Soviet countries. The paper proved that European states are dominated by the tendency to adopt consolidated acts of codification in this area and recognise the priority of unified international legal acts governing certain types of cross-border private relations. Based on the analysis, it is justified to conclude that the world has currently accumulated considerable experience in law-making in the area of private international law and the most effective is a comprehensive autonomous codification of conflict-of-laws rules, which is based on the priority of unified international acts and the widespread use of direct references to international agreements. While agreeing in general with the proposed changes regarding the content update of conflict-of-laws regulation, the authors emphasised the need to improve and develop conceptual approaches