Regulating International Filiation Law at the EU Level Comments on Applicable Law under the European Commission's Proposal

the article deals with provisions on the law applicable to filiation in theproposal of 7 December 2022 for a Council Regulation on parenthood in cross-bordersituations. I focus on selected issues by presenting comparative remarks. The aim of theanalysis is to assess consequences of choices made in particular provisions, indicate gapsand unclear points, and suggest how to remedy the identified deficiencies. This concerns,firstly, the manners of determining the applicable law, including the problems of antici-pating that law when it is to be identified before birth or conception, and of understandingthe term'at the time of birth'. In that part, I also propose adding one more subsidiaryconflict rule. Secondly, the scope of application of the proposed conflict rules is dis-cussed, including the characterization of the material validity of such legal acts as, on theone hand, anticipated joint acknowledgment of co-maternity, multiple-parenting agree-ments and surrogacy agreements, and on the other hand, consent to medically assistedprocreation. Thirdly, I present examples of the EU Member States'overriding mandatoryrules related to filiation and consider whether the future regulation should allow theapplication of such rules. The last part contains predictions as to recourse, under theregulation, to the public policy exception. The paper's general conclusion is that theproposed conflict-of-laws regime is, in principle, well-constructed, but a number ofadditions and clarifications, compiled at the end of the article, would be advisable.