Recently a working party of the European Law Institute (the ELI) has published its Statement on the European Commission’s Proposal for a Common European Sales Law. The report was approved and adopted by the European Law Institute on 7 September 2012.
According to the chairman of the working party, Sir John Thomas, the working party’s starting point was that it would scrutinise the proposed Common European Sales Law within the policy framework set by the Commission. It has not therefore considered questions of policy, such as whether the Proposal should apply to consumer-to-consumer sales. It has focused its attention on issues of a more technical nature. The working party, and its report, therefore makes a number of significant recommendations aimed at improving the practical utility and attractiveness of the Proposal, rendering it simpler and more coherent and certain.
The report makes a number of recommendations both as to how the text of the Proposal can be improved to increase its practical utility, to maximise the prospect that as an optional law it will be used by consumers and businesses, and as to how it can be implemented successfully.
The ELI Statement can be found at: https://www.europeanlawinstitute.eu/projects/publications/
The ELI is an independent non-profit organisation made of leading European judges, lawyers and academics which was established to initiate, conduct and facilitate research, make recommendations and provide practical guidance in the field of European legal development.