Summary

Estonia’s accession to the European Union will open up for Estonia the European common market characterised by the free movement of goods, services, capital and persons. Based on such freedom of movement, there may be situations where employment contract relationships may be based on different legal systems and the question to be answered is which country’s law applies. Drawing on the Treaty of Rome of 1980 which provides general rules for the law to be applied in respect of employment contracts, the author claims that the same principles are also contained in the Estonian Private International Law Act. The EU Directive 96/71/EC regulating the determination of the applicable law in cases where an employee is sent to another state within the framework of provision of services is examined. According to the author, the rules provided by the Directive have not yet been incorporated into the Estonian law.
The final part of the article is devoted to problems related to court jurisdiction. Explanation is given of the provisions of the EU Regulation 44/2001 governing the determination of the jurisdiction of the courts competent to hear matters regarding labour disputes.