Conflicting Rules in Matters Relating to Maintenance Obligations where the Connecting Factor is the will of the Parties Under Articles 7 and 8 of the Hague Protocol of 23 November 2007 on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations

Article 2.612 of the Civil Code provides: "The law applicable to the maintenance obligation shall be determined in accordance with the rules of European Union law." The law governing the maintenance obligation is found in the European regulations (European Commission, 2008). Romania has concluded Conventions (e.g. the Convention between Romania and the Kingdom of Belgium on the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matters relating to maintenance obligations) and Legal Assistance Treaties (Government of Romania, 1999; International Act, 1995; Parliament of Romania, 1995; 1997). The legal framework for the application in Romania of European Union regulations and various instruments ofprivate international law in the field ofmaintenance obligations is Law No 36/2012 on certain measures necessary for the implementation of certain regulations and decisions of the Council of the European Union (2009) and instruments of private international law in the field of maintenance obligations (Parliament of Romania, 2012). Among the European regulations in this field, we have proposed to dedicate our study to the Hague Protocol of 23 November 2007 on the law applicable to maintenance obligations. The Protocol comprises two categories of rules which differ in the nature of the point of connection: - The first category is made up of rules which provide an objective location of the obligatory relationship (Art. 3 - Art. 6); - The second category consists of rules whose point of connection is the will of the parties (Art. 7 to Art. 8). This article is devoted to the presentation of the law applicable to maintenance obligations in the case of conflicting rules whose point of connection is the will of the parties as provided for in Articles 7 and 8 of the Hague Protocol of 23 November 2007 on the law applicable to maintenance obligations.