Issue with addressfield in multiple value field collection combined with File fields

I have a very specific situation where I run into problems with the Addressfield field that I need help with.

I have a node type that holds several fields (a.o. file/image fields) and one field collection that is set up as a multiple field. Within the field collection there is an addressfield field and some other textfields.

The issue is that when on the node edit form a user edits one or more of the file/image fields, on submit, the edit form is reloaded without any message whatsoever (not on screen, not in de log and not in the apache log).

It took me a long time (eventually by eliminating every possible cause) to figure out that it is the field_collection "multiple value" setup combined with the addressfield field that causes this behavior.

Specifically the next lines of code in the addressfield.module file creates the effect of the form reloading wihout any message:

function addressfield_standard_country_validate($element, &$form_state) {
  // If the country was changed, rebuild the form.
  if ($element['#default_value'] != $element['#value']) {
    $form_state['rebuild'] = TRUE;
  }

Somehow when a users changes a file field (which triggers the form to be rebuild) the $form_state['addressfield'] that is used in the addressfield_field_widget_form() is no longer filled with whatever was filled in before which causes comparison of the #default value and the #value to return TRUE.>

Commenting out the above code fixes the problem, so I was wondering what this piece of code is in there for?