Wednesday 12 October (date to be confirmed): European Commission proposes European Contract law to boost trade and expand consumer choice

The European Commission will present proposals to bring more coherence to contract laws in the EU. Despite the success of the EU’s Single Market, barriers to cross-border trade remain. Many of these result from divergent sales laws between the 27 Member States. They make selling abroad complicated and costly, especially for small firms. Traders who are dissuaded from cross-border transactions due to contract law obstacles forgo at least €26 billion in intra-EU trade every year. Meanwhile, 500 million consumers in Europe lose out on greater choice and lower prices because fewer firms compete, particularly in smaller national markets. The Commission’s proposals will aim to break down these barriers.

The background:

Under the Europe 2020 strategy (IP/10/225), the Commission is tackling bottlenecks in the Single Market to drive economic recovery. This includes making progress towards a European contract law.

In July 2010, the Commission put forward several options in a Green Paper for a more coherent approach to contract law.

The event:

The Commission will present its proposals and publish two new Eurobarometer surveys. Vice-President Reding will hold a press conference and a technical briefing will also be held (to be confirmed).

The sources:

Contract law in the EU: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/contract/index_en.htm

Vice-President Reding’s website:  http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/reding

The European Parliament backs the optional EU Contract law for b2c proposed by the EU’s Justice Commissioner (and European Commission Vice-President) Viviane Reding. Are all stakeholders and specialists from the legal traditions aware of the potential implications of such an optional law on the level of consumer protection for EU citizens? There needs to be more consultation, research and investigation on what bringing more coherence to contract law in Europe will mean for consumers. The press release stresses only „transaction costs (like adapting contractual terms and commercial policies or obtaining translation of the rules) and legal uncertainty“, but there is no mention of any impact assessment on potential outcomes for consumers when these decide to give up their national protection provisions in favour of the more business-friendly Law. Groups of academics and legal professionals, such as the EuSoCo Group want to look at the possibilities for this Optional Law to take account of more than just the transactional aspects of contracts.  Read press release below: (mehr …)

Expert Group Report on European contract law (May 2011)

„A European contract law for consumers and businesses: Publication of the results of the feasibility study carried out by the Expert Group on European contract law for stakeholders‘ and legal practitioners‘ feedback“

Following consultation (320 responses) of the Commission Green Paper on various legal instruments, the EU Commission wishes to propose an Optional Instrument (OI) for cross-border transactions covering all necessary rules for the life cycle of a contract between parties. On 3 May the Commission published the draft of 189 articles resulting from a one-year preparatory work by the 17 person Expert Group. EuSoCo should be a part of the discussions to be had following this feasibility study and should be involved in the preparation of any follow-up initiatives on European contract law.

(mehr …)

Today,  we have sent a letter to Commissioner Reding with our view of their initiatives and the Green Paper and have included our EuSoCo Declaration from Hamburg 2010.

Here is the letter: EuSoCo Group – Green Paper ECL Response Jan2011

Luca Nogler, Udo Reifner

Der menschliche Makel – Principles of European Contract Law zwischen Merkantil- und Dienstleistungsgesellschaft

Inhaltsübersicht: 1. Einleitung. – 2. Die Freiheit vom Menschen – Merkantiles Arbeitsrecht – 3. Der geschützte Mensch: das soziale Arbeitsrecht als privatrechtliche Herausforderung in Europa. – 4. Der menschliche Makel im Zivilrecht. – 5. Vom Arbeitsrecht zum Verbraucherschutz. – 6. Der menschliche Makel im Allgemeinen Vertragsrecht – 7. Kauf und Miete im Vergleich – 8. Principles of European Contract Law zwischen Merkantil und Dienstleistungsgesellschaft.

Der menschliche Makel

Note:  (Jan 2011)  Some of the links below are no longer working due to EC website and internal restructuring (e.g. former DG SANCO units in charge of contract law have been transfered to the competence of DG Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship).

Updated link to consultation page: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/news/consulting_public/news_consulting_0052_en.htm

Green Paper German

Green Paper English

Green Paper Francais

Green Paper Italiano

——

EU-Commission publishes Green Paper on European Contract Law

We welcome contributions from all citizens and stakeholders, Member States, EU institutions, national, regional and local authorities, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, academia, social partners and civil society organisations.
From 01.07.2010 to 31.01.2011 (mehr …)

Note:  (Jan 2011)  Some of the links below are no longer working due to EC website and internal restructuring (e.g. former DG SANCO units in charge of contract law have been transfered to the competence of DG Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship).

Updated link to consultation page: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/news/consulting_public/news_consulting_0052_en.htm

Green Paper German

Green Paper English

Green Paper Francais

Green Paper Italiano

Public consultation has opened: From 01.07.2010 to 31.01.2011.

IP/10/872

Brussels, 1 July 2010

European Commission seeks contract law solutions to smooth Single Market for consumers and businesses (mehr …)

by clicking here

IP/10/595  Date:  21/05/2010

European Commission convenes legal expert group to seek solutions on contract law

The European Commission, seeking to boost cross-border trade and to ensure strong rights for consumers, convened a new expert group to propose ways to improve contract law in the European Union. The group of 18 contract law experts, lawyers and consumer representatives met for the first time today in Brussels. The Commission will launch a public consultation on the most appropriate way forward to improve coherence in contract law in the summer. A possible solution could be an optional European contract law (or „28th system“). For example, an Irish retailer dealing with a French supplier, who is unfamiliar with French law, could opt for European law for the contract. In addition, a Polish consumer shopping on the Internet could push a „blue button“ on the website and choose the European contract law instrument, which would guarantee a high level of consumer protection. (mehr …)

The Economic and Social Committee has presented a proposal that would establish the DCFR as the dominant civil code in Europe. The European Commission after presenting a Roadmap has now established 20 experts (Official Journal for 27 April 2010 (OJ L105, 27.4.2010, 109-111) which within the next two years (until 26 April 2012) are supposed to present a Common Frame of Reference for a European Contract Law.

Article 2: Task
The group’s task shall be to assist the Commission in the preparation  of a proposal for a Common Frame of Reference in the area of European contract law, including consumer and business contract law, and in particular in:

• (a) selecting those parts of the Draft Common Frame of Reference which are of direct or indirect relevance to contract law; and
• (b) restructuring, revising and supplementing the selected contents of the Draft Common Frame of Reference, taking also into consideration other research work conducted in this area as well as the Union acquis.