The European Commission welcomed the draft report issued by the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) with regard to the optional EU-wide rules for businesses and consumers who are concluding contracts in the Single Market. According to the Commission, an optional EU-wide contract law would promote growth by making it cheaper for businesses to access new markets and offering consumers a greater choice of products at more competitive prices.

MEPs at the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee backs a draft report on optional EU-wide rules for businesses and consumers who are concluding contracts in the Single Market. The draft report lays down on a European Commission proposal presented in October 2011 that, according this European institution, takes an innovative approach based on free choice, subsidiarity and competition, instead of setting aside national laws. The JURI Committee is due to vote on the report in the coming months.

The Commission highlighted that an optional EU-wide contract law would promote the Digital Single Market by providing a coherent set of rules for the marketing of digital products and related services which may also apply when some of these products are provided using the Cloud. The European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee co-rapporteurs suggest in their report to limit the scope of the Common European Sales Law to distance contracts, notably online contracts.

Companies use a wide variety of contracts that are governed by different national contract laws when operating in Europe’s Single Market. Currently, businesses wishing to carry out cross-border transactions must adapt to up to 26 different national contract laws, translate them and hire lawyers, costing an average €10,000 for each additional export market. The Commission stressed that the Common European Sales Law provides strong consumer protection which goes further than many national laws.