Second session Hamburg , 26 – 2 9 October 2015 UNIDROIT 201 6 Study L – Misc . 32 English only January 2016 REPORT (prepared by the UNIDROIT Secretariat)

(Spanish translation Long term contracts. ¿Hacia unos principios Unidroit de los contratos comerciales internacionales de duración? by Elena Carillo)

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Below some recent papers of potential interest:

Hesselink, Martijn W., How to Opt into the Common European Sales Law? Brief Comments on the Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation (October 26, 2011). Amsterdam Law School Research Paper No. 2011-43; Centre for the Study of European Contract Law Working Paper Series No. 2011-15. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1950107

Hesselink, Martijn W., The General Principles of Civil Law: Their Nature, Roles and Legitimacy (September 22, 2011). Amsterdam Law School Research Paper No. 2011-35; Centre for the Study of European Contract Law Working Paper Series No. 2011-14; THE INVOLVEMENT OF EU LAW IN PRIVATE LAW RELATIONSHIPS, Dorota Leczykiewicz & Stephen Weatheril, eds., Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2012; Post-National Rulemaking Working paper No. 2011-03. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1932146

Rosenberg, Anat, Classical Contract Law, Past and Present (September 15, 2011). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1927785

Purnhagen, Kai Peter, The Architecture of Post-National European Contract Law from a Phenomenological Perspective – A Question of Institutions (September 5, 2011). Amsterdam Law School Research Paper No. 2011-25; Centre for the Study of European Contract Law Working Paper Series No. 2011-11; Post-National Rulemaking Working Paper Series No. 2011-01. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1926163

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 …)

BEUC Press release 6 June 2011

EU Contract law – MEPs on the wrong track

The European Parliament votes this week Wednesday 8 on a report by MEP Diana Wallis (UK) supporting the European Commission’s proposal for a European contract law system.
The future European ‚Optional Instrument‘ or ’28th Regime’1, aims to establish a separate European system for contract law, as distinct from national law, which would govern day to day consumer contracts. Major concerns are held not only by consumer organisations, but by many stakeholders ranging from SMEs, major business representatives, to national law societies.
Fundamental flaws in the concept of an Optional Instrument for b2c contracts2 include the following:

• The Commission’s own EU-wide statistics found 79% of traders say the same legal rules across the EU would make little or no difference to boosting their cross border trade.
• ‚Optional‘ is not at all accurate: the business decides whether to use it or not, thereby deciding on the level of protection that the consumer would benefit from and putting the consumer in a ‚take it or leave it‘ situation.
• This instrument would create more complexity and daily confusion instead of more confidence and legal certainty not only for consumers but also for SMEs. It is unrealistic for consumers to make an informed choice between two legal systems (national and EU).

Monique Goyens, Director General of the European Consumers‘ Organisation (BEUC) commented:
„Vice President Reding’s ambition runs contrary to what consumers and SMEs want and expect the Commission to do to promote e-commerce. Instead, she pushes for high flying academic ideas which will not provide practical benefits to European citizens and contradict the Commission’s own statistics.“
„The stakeholders most concerned by this initiative, European consumers, SMEs and legal practitioners are aligned against it and have written jointly to MEPs asking them not to support it. An Optional Instrument will not help facilitating b2c cross-border transactions, but instead complicate them; in addition there is a clear risk that consumer protection standards will be weakened in many Member States.“

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.

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Results from the consultation on the “Green Paper from the Commission on policy options for progress towards a European Contract Law for consumers and businesses” can be found here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/news/consulting_public/news_consulting_0052_en.htm.

Among the 319 responses they received is the EuSoCo Group’s submission (EuSoCo letter including our Declaration). It is located at the link above under the name “Europäischer Sozialvertragskodex – Code Européen des Contrats Sociaux – European Social Contracts Code – EuSoCo Group”

European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee approves a report favouring the elaboration of an optional European Contract Law

EP webpage here. Diana Wallis‘ report here. Read also the EU Comm’s press release (copied below). (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

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 …)