Le Code de droit international privé ou l'avènement d'un droit international privé 'flexible'

In this paper I review the operation of the exception clause provided in Article 19 of the Belgian Code of Private International Law (Act of 16 July 2004 entered into force on 1st of October 2004). Much has been written on the need but also on the risks associated with such exception clauses. The introduction of this mechanism has been much criticized in Belgian scholarly works (among others by Barnich). I attempt to downplay or nuance some of the criticisms by showing that when properly applied, the exception clause does not call into question the operation of other conflict of laws rules. In order to do so, I analyze the main requirements of Article 19, in the light of the foreign experiences with similar mechanisms (inter alia the Swiss experience and the experience of the 1980 Rome Convention).