1. Tamas Dezso Ziegler Practical Aspects of the New Silk Road Cooperation

2. Contract law (substantive law)
General introduction
„Toolkit” to cooperation.
Contract law (substantive law)
Private international law (conflict of laws)
Public procurement and state aid

3. EU and member states’ law
EU law: like federal law in the US
EU law has supremacy and direct effect over member states’ law

4. EU and member states law
Competencies:
Treaty on the Functioning of the EU
Treaty on the European Union
Disputes between member states and the EU
National Parliaments are also legislators
EU commercial policy: exclusive EU competence
EU infringement procedure: EU has the right to „punish” a country

5. Substantive contract law
EU contract law: mostly for consumer law issues
28 member states: all different systems
Continental systems: civil code (Hungarian Civil Code, Bürgerliches Gesetzbuche, Code Civile in France, etc.)
UK system: case law mixed with certain laws

6. Private international law
EU has very important rules
Rome I regulation (Regulation No. 593/2008) on the law applicable to contracts
Similar to the Chinese Act: Act on the Application of Laws over Foreign-related Civil Relationships

7. Private international law
Contracts:
Choice of law is available (just like in Chinese law, see Act on the Application of Laws over Foreign-related Civil Relationships, Article 41.
However, in a number of cases choice is limited in China
(Chinese-foreign joint ventures)
Absence of choice: China: “principle of closest connection” („habitual residence of the party whose performance obligation can be the best to embody the essential characteristics of the contract”)
Absence of choice: EU: (a) sale of goods: the law of the country where the seller has his habitual residence; (b) services: law of the country where the service provider has his habitual residence c) otherwise:  the law of the country where the party required to do the characteristic performance has his habitual residence.

8. Public procurement and state aid
Very strict EU rules:
Public procurement: processes cannot be used discriminatively
State aid: generally, states may not „aid” (help) companies
„Twenty-seven of the 28 national EU ambassadors to Beijing have compiled a report that sharply criticizes China’s “Silk Road” project, denouncing it as designed to hamper free trade and put Chinese companies at an advantage… The unusually biting contents, which only Hungary’s ambassador refused to sign, are part of the EU’s preparations for an EU-China summit in July.” (Handelsblatt)

9. Public procurement and state aid
Atomic plant (Paks 2 – Russian business) – EU actions:
State aid
Procurement

10. Public procurement and state aid
Belgrade-Budapest railway
„The segment in Serbia, with an investment of 350 million U.S. dollars, was kicked off at a ceremony at Zemun railway station in Belgrade by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Minister of Construction, Transportation and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic, and Wang Xiaotao, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission of China….
The railway linking Budapest with Belgrade is the first cross-border project jointly realized by Serbia, Hungary and China within the framework of the cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC)… It has a total length of 350 km, with 184 km in Serbia. It is designed for electrified passenger and cargo trains with a maximum speed of 200 km per hour.”

11. Public procurement and state aid
Belgrade-Budapest train line: