Suggested text provides a draft set of EU-wide contract law rules
We discussed in this post on 13 April 2011 the proposal by the European Commission for a European Union-wide system of contract law, and the work that has produced policy options around that proposal.
An “Expert Group” of lawyers, judges and academics was established by the Commission in April 2010 and charged with producing a feasibility study into what such a self-contained European contract law might look like. The Expert Group produced its study (the Feasibility Study) at the beginning of May 2011. The Feasibility Study can be read here; background on a European contract law is at the European Commission Justice Directorate-General website here.
The Feasibility Study
The mandate of the Expert Group is described in the Feasibility Study as:
“…to conduct a feasibility study which would result in a self-standing and comprehensive text covering most aspects of a contractual relationship that would be of relevance for the contractual relationship in cross-border situations…[with] a text that would not only be concise, but also be user-friendly, both in its language and structure so it could be understood and used by businesses and consumers who would not necessarily be specialists in the area of contract law”.
The Feasibility Study contains the suggested text of a draft European contract law instrument, divided into various parts:
- Part I: Introductory provisions
- Part II: Formation of contract and rights to withdraw or avoid
- Part III: Assessing what is in the contract
- Part IV: Obligations and remedies of the parties to a sales contract
- Part V: Obligations and remedies of the parties to a related services contract
- Part VI: Damages and interest, restitution and prescription.
In the words of the Feasibility Study, “the Commission…will use the Expert Group’s text as a ‘toolbox’ in the preparation of a possible future initiative on European contract law”. Feedback on the Feasibility Study is invited by 1 July 2011.
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