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The Commission Communication on European Contract Law and the Future Prospects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2008

Dirk Staudenmayer
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Extract

On 11 July 2001 the Commission adopted its Communication on European Contract Law,1 which has received a lot of attention in academic discussion.2 In the following the main contents of the Commission Communication will first be summarised. In addition the political and institutional context shall be described which is important for the understanding of the Communication and the future prospects. Finally, we will try to demonstrate, how—according to the Council report3 and the European Parliament (EP) resolution4 concerning the Communication—these future prospects could develop4a.

Type
Shorter Articles, Comments and Notes
Information
International & Comparative Law Quarterly , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , July 2002 , pp. 673 - 688
Copyright
Copyright © British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2002

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References

1 COM 398 final (2001) of 11 July 2001, OJ C 255, 13 Sept 2001.

2 Cf Schulte-Nölke, Juristen Zeitung (2001), 917Google Scholar, Leible, , Europäisches Wirtschafts- und Steuerrecht (2001), 471Google Scholar, Staudinger, Verbraucher und Recht (2001), 353Google Scholar, Bar, VonZeitschrift fur Europäisches Privatrecht (2001), 799Google Scholar, Weatherill, , Journal of Consumer Policy (2001), 339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Council report on the need to approximate Member States' legislation in civil matters, 13017/01-JUSTCIV 129. Council report on the need to approximate Member States' legislation in civil matters, 13017/01-JUSTCIV 129.

4 European Parliament resolution on the approximation of the civil and commercial law of the Member States, 15 Nov 2001, A 5–0384/2001.

4a As far as the reactions of the public to the Communication are concerned, see the Commission analysis on http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contractlaw/indexen.html and the press release of 3 Apr 2002, 3P/02/496.

5 Cf n 4, point 9.

6 Cf Von Bar (n 2), at 800, 801; Staudinger (n 2), at 355.

7 CfVonBar(n2), at 801.

8 ECJ, 20. 9. 2001, CM53/99 Courage and Crehan, not yet published in the ECR.

9 See C 4.

10 Cf n 1, points 42–4.

11 Points 3, 4, and 14–20 and a part of the conclusions of the Council report deal with family law.

12 This is emphasised by Schulte–Nölke (n 2) 918.

13 Cf Art 1 (2) and (3) Directive 94/47/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 Oct 1994 on the protection of purchasers in respect of certain aspects of contracts relating to the purchase of rights to use immovable properties on a timeshare basis (OJ L 280 183, 29 Oct 1994).

14 Staudenmayer, , ‘EG–Richtlinie 1999/44/EG zur Vereinheitlichung des Kaufgewährleistungsrechts’, in Grundmann, Medicus, and Rolland (eds), Europäisches Kaufgewährleistungsrecht (2000), 28Google Scholar; Staudenmayer, , Perspektiven des europäischen Vertragsrechts, in Schulze and Schulte-Nolke (eds), Die Schuldrechtsreform vor dem Hintergrund des Gemeinschaftsrechts, 1. ed, 2001, 419Google Scholar. Cf also Staudinger, n 2, at 353) and Däubler-Gmelin Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (2001), 2283.

15 Directive 1999/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees, OJ L 171/12, 7 July 1999). Cf Staudenmayer, , ‘The Directive on the Sale of Consumer Goods and Associated Guarantees–A Milestone in European Consumer and Private Law’, European Review of Private Law (2000), 547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

16 Directive 2000/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 June 2000 on combating late payments in commercial transactions, OJ L 200/35, 8 Aug 2000. Cf Schulte-Braucks, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (2001), 103 and Schmidt-Kessel, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (2001), 97.

17 Directive 2000/3 I/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular e-commerce, in the Internal Market, OJ L 171/1, 17 July 2000.

18 Cf explanatory statement of working document of 6 Nov 2001 of the Legal affairs and Internal Market Committee, PE 294.922.

19 Basedow, 33 Common Market Law Review (CMLR) 96, 1174 f.

20 Cf Timmermans, 34 CMLR 97, 1232.

21 Cf Eckert, , ‘Europäisierung des Privatrechts- Die Bedeutung der Richtlinien der Europäischen Union für die Schaffung einer einheitlichen Rechtsordnung’, in Festschrift Söllner, Europas universale rechtsordnungspoitische Aufgabe itn Recht des dritten Jahrtausends (2000), 243, 250.Google Scholar

22 Cf Rittner, , Juristen Zeitung (1995), 851Google Scholar; Schulze, , Deutsche Richter Zeitung (1997), 373.Google Scholar

23 Art 5 (1) of Council Directive 85/577/EEC of 20 Dec 1985 to protect the consumer in respect of contracts negotiated away from business premises (OJ L 372, 31,31 Dec 1985).

24 Art 6 (1) of Directive 97/7TEC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 1997 on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts (OJ L 144, 19, 4 June 1997).

25 Art 5 no. 1, first indent, (cf n 9).

26 22 Apr 1999, C–423/97, ECR1–2195.

27 Cf Remien, , Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft, 87 (1988), 116Google Scholar; Müller-Graff, , Neue Juristsche Wochenschrift (1993), 22.Google Scholar

28 Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays, and package tours (OJ L 158, 23 June 1990).

29 Case C-168/00 Simone Leitner/TUI Deutschland GmbH & Co KG, 12 Mar 2002, not yet published in the ECR.

30 Council Directive 86/653/EEC of 18 Dec 1986 on the coordination of the laws of the Member states relating to self-employed commercial agents (OJ L 382, 17, 31 Dec 1986).

31 Council Directive 85/374/EEC of 25 July 1985 on the approximation of the laws, regulations, and administrative provisions of the Member States concerning liability for defective products OJ L 210,29, 7 Aug 1985).

31a Cf the conclusions of the Advocate General, points 34, 35.

32 See the sceptical statements of Staudinger, n 2, at 355; Leible, n 2 at 475.

33 Cf Staudinger, n 2 at 354.

34 However, as Staudinger (n 2 at 355) points out, they would need to be integrated into the contract and could not–according to Art 3 of the Rome Convention–just be chosen as applicable law.

35 Cf Staudinger, n at 356; Leible, n 2 at 474.

36 Cf Schulte-Nölke, n at 917.

37 Cf Basedow, , European Review of Private Law (2001), 47.Google Scholar

38 Cf Staudinger, n at 358.

39 Cf Basedow, op cit, 44.

40 Cf Staudinger (n 2) at 356.

41 Cf Schulte-Nölke (n 2) at 920; Leible (n 2) at 479 and Staudinger (n 2) at 354).

42 Case C-376/98, 5 Oct 2000, ECR I–8419.

43 OJ C 158 400, 26 June 1989 (Resolution A2–157/89); OJ C 205 518, 25 July 1994 (Resolution A3–0329/94).

44 European Parliament, Directorate General for Research, Study of the systems of private law in the EU with regard to discrimination and the creation of a European Civil Code (PE 168.511).

45 OJ C 377 323, 29 Dec 2000 (Resolution B5–0228, 0229–0230/2000, 326 at point 28).

46 Cf working document of 6 Nov 2001 of the Legal affairs and Internal Market committee, PE 294.922.

47 Lando/Beale (eds), Principles of European Contract Law, Parts I and II (2000).

48 European Contract Code–Preliminary draft, Academy of European Private Lawyers Pavia, 2001.

49 Gerven, Van (ed), Common Law of Europe Casebooks: Contract (Oxford and Portland, Oregon, 2001).Google Scholar

50 Cf the examples mentioned by Leible (n 2) at 472.

51 Presidency conclusions, Tampere European Council 15 and 16 Oct 1999, SI (1999) 800, at para 39.

52 Cf Reichenbach, , Emmerling, , Staudenmayer, , and Schmidt, , Integration: Wanderung über europaische (Gipfel, 1. edn, 1999).Google Scholar

53 Ibid, 117.

54 Points 1–4.

55 Points 5–8.

56 Points 9–13.

57 Points 14–20.

58 Points 21.

59 Recitals H and I.

60 Point 6.

61 Recital J.

62 Points 9 and 13.

63 Point 7.

64 Point 6.

65 Point 10.

66 Point 14.

67 Points 19 and 20.

68 Point 11.