Multiple Faces of Mutual Recognition Unity and Diversity in Regulating Enforcement of Judgements in the European Union

The area of private law was largely omitted from the 1957 Treaty on the European Economic Community (Treaty of Rome), whose major objective was the establishment of a common internal market. Yet, the harmonisation of private law rules appeared useful. In order to enhance the process of creating a common market where a free movement of goods, services, persons and capital was to be ensured, efforts have been made to harmonise substantive and private international law rules on the Community level. On the basis of Article 220 EEC Treaty, a number of legal instruments were adopted in the area of private international law, in particular the 1968 Brussels Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters and the 1980 Rome Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations.