The law applicable to matrimonial property regimes after the Regulation No. 1103/2016. The impact upon the Italian law

The discipline on matrimonial property regimes presents significant difficulties for cross-border couples. Therefore, it is necessary to guarantee uniformity in the context of law applicable to the matrimonial property regimes, taking into account the peculiarities of the different legal systems of the Member States. In this regard and in order to guarantee legal certainty, spouses must be made aware in advance with respect to the law applicable to a matrimonial property regime. With Regulation No. 1103/2016, the European Union has introduced harmonized rules that allow spouses to knowingly choose the law applicable to their property regime. Therefore, the aims is to examine the impact that the Regulation will have upon the Italian legal system. It is interesting to analyze the cases in which there will be conflict of rules and how those cases will be solved. In Italy, the Regulation will replace the national rules of private international law, only limitedly to the matrimonial property regimes constituted after the entry into the force of the Regulation. So the purpose is to analyze how the Regulation affects the Italian private international law rules. It will be interesting to understand which is the closest connection criteria that leads to the resolution of conflicts and to identify the law applicable to the matrimonial property regimes. The Regulation defines a series of connection criteria which, taking into account all the circumstances, allows to identify the applicable law even when the spouses didn't make the choice. In this sense, it is possible, for the cross-border couples, to reduce the practical and legal difficulties deriving from the disparity between the applicable laws. In fact, if there is legal uncertainty over the management of assets, the risk of not satisfying the family's interests increases.