Is the common European sales law a Trojan horse, asks Stephan Balthasar
The European Commission has been pursuing efforts to harmonise European contract law for over a decade now. More recently, the project has been gaining speed: in 2010, the Commission published a green paper on policy options for “progress towards a European contract law for consumers and businesses” (COM(2010)348). Following the consultation process, the Commission nominated an expert group to work out a feasibility study, which was published on 3 May 2011. On 11 October, Viviane Reding, Vice-president and Commissioner responsible for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, presented a proposal for a regulation “on a Common European Sales Law” (COM(2011)635), which she intends to put on the statute book by 2012.
The Commission’s draft regulation provides for an “optional instrument”, the so-called “28th regime”—a contract law that parties to cross-border sales contracts may choose as an alternative to national laws (Art 3 of the draft regulation). The common European sales law is designed to be applied in both B2B and B2C relationships. The Commission’s overarching aim is to remove obstacles to cross-border trade
