European Regulation in matters of international successions

The conflict of law rules contained in the Regulation will apply in the Member States bound by the Regulation to all successions with a foreign element.

The choice was made when drafting the Regulation not to limit it to those cases in which the specified law is that of a Member State.

This is stated in Article 20^[1] of the Regulation: " “any law specified by this Regulation shall be applied whether or not it is the law of a Member State".”

For the conflict of law rules contained in the Regulation to apply, the following conditions are necessary and sufficient:

• an authority (court or not) of a Member State must be seised,

• the question must fall within the substantive scope of the Regulation.