CONTRACT LAW

Latest news (April 2008)

The Academy of European Law (www.era.int) has held a conference on the Draft Common Frame of Reference. You can read Diana's speech on 'Expectations for the Final CFR' here.

Expectations for the Final Common Frame of Reference.

The Contract Law Project Team

In March 2006 the European Parliament adopted a report, 'European Contract Law and the revision of the acquis: the way forward'. Diana Wallis was the draftsperson for the opinion of the internal market and consumer protection committee.

The final report on Contract Law instructed the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on Internal Market to continually follow the work of the Commission, and where appropriate to issue opinions on the results regularly issued by the Commission.

Accordingly, a parliamentary project team has been set up in order to deal with this long term project. The project team, which reflects the enhanced cooperation between IMCO and JURI, is composed of all the shadow Rapporteurs and will meets regularly. The Working Group has agreed with the European Commission to give each other the status of an observer, so that Parliament's representatives could be present at the CFR workshops and Commission's representatives at the Working Groups' meetings.

The aim of the project team is to look at the content of the work carried out by the Commission, the research groups and the Network and to provide political guidance.

Background

This initiative is a long going project aiming at making European contract law more coherent. The Commission is thinking of a 'soft law' instrument: a common frame of reference, also described as a toolbox which will contain coherent definitions for several sectoral instruments. The project finds its genesis in consumer law and the Common Framework of Reference and goes hand in hand with the review of the EU consumer protection legislation.

The European Common Frame of Reference and the review of the consumer acquis are the biggest project facing the European legislator in the field of civil and commercial law. Done correctly, they could achieve an enormous step forward for the EU in better law-making but there are many tensions in the processes that desperately need to be resolved.

In January 2008 the academic Draft Common Frame of Reference was presented by the Study Group on a European Civil Code and the Research Group on Existing EC Private Law ('the Acquis Group'). The publication is an important milestone in the development of better, more coherent legislation in the area of European contract law. A more detailed, annotated version will be published in the near future, featuring the academics' notes and references to the source materials.

Diana speaks on the launch of the Academic Draft Common Frame of Reference

Details on obtaining a copy of the Draft Common Frame of Reference can be found here.

Documents

• Council report on the setting up of a Common Frame of Reference for European Contract Law (April 2008).

• Second Progress Report on the Common Frame of Reference (July 2007).

• European Contract Law and the revision of the acquis: Second Working Document (November 2006).

• European Parliament Resolution on Contract Law (September 2006).

• IMCO Working Document on the notion of consumers (May 2006).

• 26 January 2006 - final IMCO report .

• Draft opinion for the internal market committee (October 2005).

• Amendments to IMCO report (December 2005).

• Klaus-Heiner Lehne's draft report for the legal affairs committee (June 2005).

• First annual progress report on European contract law and the acquis review COM (2005) 456 final.

• Commission's proposal: European contract law and revision of the acquis: the way forward COM (2004) 651.

Rule of enhanced cooperation between committees (rules of procedure of the European Parliament).

Comments and opinions

• European Commisison page on European Contract Law.

• Common Frame of Reference: what next in European Contract Law? (JURI hearing, November 2006) .

• Coherent Contract Law, Political Tendencies - Speech by Diana Wallis, July 2006.

• Opening speech at the Austrian Presidency Conference (26 May 2006).

• Cracking the Code (The European Lawyer February 2006).

• European Contract Law: questions to be answered (Brussels Connection, October 2005).

• UK Presidency conference on European contract law (London, 26 September 2005).

Timetable

• 26 January 2006: adoption of IMCO opinion .

• 2 March 2006: adoption of final report .

• 23 March 2006: adoption of the Contract Law report in plenary session.

• 30 May 2006: IMCO exchange of views on the notion of consumers.

• 21 November 2006: IMCO exchange of views on European Contract Law and the revision of the acquis .

• 21 November 2006: JURI hearing on European Contract Law .

• 26 June 2007: JURI/IMCO workshop on Contract Law .

• 21 November 2007: Oral question on Contract Law to the Commission by the Legal Affairs Committee.