CROBECO described an alternative European conveyancing process that could contribute to a better cross border service of documents (art 81 TFEU).
For property rights the law of the country of the plot (“lex rei sitae”) is fully respected (art 345 TFEU), but for contractual and non contractual obligations the law choice is used to make the law of the country of the foreign buyer applicable.
See Regulations Rome I (Article 3) and Rome II (Article14, 1 b) and the choice of forum of Regulation Brussels 1 (Article 23).
Clauses with these choices are added to contracts in the native language of the home country of a foreign buyer, and improve faith that there is sufficient legal protection.
The deed is written in the buyer’s native language and in the official language of the country in which the plot is located.
The complete process is only possible for plots in countries that allow submission of foreign deeds.
To ensure timely receipt of information and conveyancing documents, the process is based on electronic communication.
The leading principle is respect for existing legislation and techniques.
A CROBECO conveyancer needs to have sufficient knowledge of different types of electronic communication and of two national legislations (that of the contractual law and that of the property rights).
To support him or her a framework of guidelines and possible supportive tools has been described in a Cross border Conveyancing Reference Framework.
This was based on the advice of professors from the Universities of Valencia (Spain), Coimbra (Portugal) and Maastricht (Netherlands), tested in pilots and discussed with ELRA-members and other stakeholders.
The final version of the CCRF link was approved at the General Assembly of ELRA in May 2012.
