Wednesday 13 April 2011

Optional instrument more of an option with every day.

The creation process of the European Contract Law as an optional instrument continues with the European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee approving yesterday a report that favours this option. The European Commission presented a few options that would allow to achieve a more coherent approach to European contract law in its Green Paper (discussed previously on this blog). One of the options was to introduce an optional instrument that would be an alternative to national contract laws, an alternative that parties to a contract could freely choose instead of national laws. It would most likely apply only to cross-border transactions, and would have to guarantee a sufficient level of consumer protection to be attractive. Now, Diana Wallis, a member of the EP, prepared her own report on policy options for progress towards a European Contract Law in which she favors the optional instrument. The European Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee voted overwhelmingly in support of that draft report.

Press relese may be found here.
Procedure file may be found here.