Reproduced with permission of 21 Penn State International Law Review (Spring 2003) 569-620
Dr. Mel Kenny [*]
I. INTRODUCTION: GLOBALIZATION, INTERLEGALITY AND THE COMMUNICATION ON EUROPEAN CONTRACT LAW
The initiatives in regional integration taken by the European Community (EC) have played a major role in indicating the type of innovative cooperation necessary given the increasing obsolescence of the nation-state as the basic unit of international life in today's global trading environment. Though the Mercosur, NAFTA and ASEAN represent weaker forms of regional cooperation, the logic of the path followed by the EC implies that these organizations will eventually be forced to resort to more advanced forms of policy harmonization in order to meet the challenges of globalization. While efforts at regional cooperation have traditionally concentrated on freeing the factors of production, the perception has grown that securing free trade areas, customs unions, or common markets are only the first steps of integration and that ever-broader coordination is required. These efforts at regional cooperation in turn will lead to a far greater need for more enhanced global policy coordination.
Given the traditional focus on the factors of production, it is not surprising that the more general role of private law in regional cooperation models has been either ignored or obscured. Increasingly, however, the realization has grown that differences in national private law and the difficulties associated with the coordination of national, regional and international legal norms can fragment markets, and compromise efficiency, competition, and growth in the same way as the more visible provisions of discriminatory trade law. It is in this context that the European Commission's Communication on European Contract law [1] initiates debate. The Communication, which presents options for [page 569] the future of the law of Contract in the EC, focuses attention on the way in which national law has been shaped by a process of "Europeanization" and the market fragmenting aspect of the divergence between national, EC and international contract law. In focusing on these issues, the Communication exposes the practical and theoretical problems for cross-border contracting, which are of significance not only for the EC, but also serve as an innovative model for other regional organizations.
The new emphasis set by the Communication on the need to harmonize the private norms of Contract law is conditioned by the recognition that, in the global marketplace, the contents of contracts are no longer controlled simply by national law but are shaped by the interplay of national, international and regional norms. This trend towards "Europeanized' and "internationalized' transactions has been all the more pronounced in the EC, a Community of 15 Member States and 16 jurisdictions, with the advent of "e-commerce" and the price transparency brought about by the introduction of the EURO. Further exacerbating fragmentation, as Lurger observes, a feature of recent national law-making in Civil law jurisdictions has been the passing of increasingly specific laws, especially in consumer protection, outside the general codified law of contract.[2] These developments have underscored the fragmented plurality of norms, which confront the legal community with problems in distilling the law relevant to a contract and coordinating the diverse legal sources.
From the theoretical perspective, the problem is that we are faced with a new malleability of legal norms. As de Sousa Santos has put it, the idea of a monopoly in legal production is replaced by "the existence and circulation in society of different legal systems ... since there is not one single law but a network of laws that must be matched with society." De Sousa Santos concludes: "We live in a time of porous legality ... of multiple networks of legal orders forcing us to constant transitions and trespassings. Our legal life is constituted by an intersection of different legal orders, that is, by interlegality."[3] In order to meet the challenge of interlegality a number of solutions have been advanced: increased [page 570] harmonization; the development of collision principles; or continued faith in the competition of legal orders.
This article aims to assess the future perspectives of Europeanized contract law given the Communication, the responses to the Communication, the pursuant Council Report* and the Resolution of the European Parliament.[4] The article begins with an analysis of the Europeanization of private law, a phenomenon against which the Communication is placed. The responses to the Communication are then evaluated before the action plan, developed by the European Council and Parliament, is mapped out. The focus then turns to the new quality of integration, which these developments announce, and the alternatives to the proposed reform from economic, conflict of laws, and regulatory perspectives. The paper concludes with an assessment of the problems in their global and interlegal context, a consideration of the next steps to be taken and an analysis of the wider implications of the initiative beyond the EC.
II. THE EUROPEANIZATION OF PRIVATE LAW
While there is nothing new about the observation that private law is influenced by a process of Europeanization,[5] the discussion of the future [page 571] of European private law has only recently intensified as regional integration has increasingly permeated national legal orders. Though the perception of the EC legal order has traditionally focused on the high-profile "public' provisions of the EC Treaty, as they cut into national prerogatives and address the State, the new perception focuses on "private' secondary law, constituted by a forest of EC directives and regulations.[6] While it is clear that a single market requires a common framework of rules, the extensiveness of EC regulatory intervention is frequently underestimated. This network of interdependent regulatory law sets parameters for private autonomy and reaches into national private laws both directly, by controlling national norms intersecting with EC objectives, and indirectly, by setting interpretational parameters for national law in general. Again, the extensiveness of EC secondary law bears witness to how national executives have progressively transferred law-making powers to the EC.[7]
A brief overview of EC secondary law, incrementally and haphazardly expanded during the course of European integration, clarifies the areas in which harmonization has developed contract terms. While the majority of such secondary law deals with consumer protection;[8] the Commission's powers to legislate in competition law [9] [page 572] has led to the shaping of contract terms through block exemption regulations.[10] Moreover, contract terms have been promulgated in specific policy areas within the competence of the EC in environmental, health and safety and in the elaboration of product-related EC technical norms.[11] In this way, harmonization has penetrated increasingly larger [page 573] areas of national private law through the common standards sought over a whole set of goals. Such common standards have been enacted which pertain to misleading advertising and insider trading, but also in less visible areas such as "the rear-mounted roll-over protection structures of narrow-track wheeled agricultural and forestry tractors', or common standards "for processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children,' and to common standards for sweeteners used in food products.[12]
Further complicating this picture, the hallmark of harmonization has been the introduction of progressively higher EC standards, especially in the areas of consumer protection, that have been combined with the development of the concept of minimum harmonization. Minimum harmonization asserts the validity of overarching public interest objectives and allows Member States to exceed standards laid down in the relevant EC directive. A problem with minimum harmonization is [page 574] that, while in the absence of "full harmonization,' Member States are free to adopt higher domestic standards, the applicability of such standards to both domestic and imported products will vary according to the terms of the directive. Thus, if the directive contains a "market access' clause then the higher national standard will be applicable only to domestically produced products; resulting in the "reverse discrimination' of national products.[13]
As a consequence of the identified features of Europeanization: the progressively invasive influence of EC norms on national private law; the trend towards higher standards of EC consumer protection; and the institution of minimum harmonization, it is not surprising that a whole range of networks of European academics are currently at work on creating a ius commune, or common law, of Europe in the diverse and fragmented areas of private law.[14] [page 575]
A. The Polycentric Multi-level System
A reduction of this problem to the relationship between national and EC law is inappropriate. Both international and conflict principles at least partially attempt to regulate or coordinate contract law. These attempts are seen in international initiatives that are aimed at determining the appropriate forum and regulating the relationships between international and regional law and national mandatory requirements. Increasingly, the law relevant to a contract dispute must be extracted from the multi-level system. The view of EC law, as one of the levels in a polycentric multi-level system; of a law which emerges from an interplay of national, international, lex mercatoria, and conflict principles [15] is ascendant.[16] Yet, the departure from the traditional view of demarcated legal systems with an identifiable hierarchy of norms and the embracing of a new porous legality creates problems, in which connection MacCormick has identified the continuing danger of an outdated "monocular" view of law.[17]
The main question which arises, given the multiplicity of legal cultures within which a variety of contractual concepts are diversely interwoven into the national legal fabric, is how the different legal norms from the different levels of the system can best be coordinated.[18] Especially in the area of cross-border transactions, the application of national private law, without reference to non-national legal sources is no longer possible, whether those sources are the Vienna Sales Convention or the EC-Rome Convention. On the other hand, despite the broad trend towards convergence within the EC, only a few of the non-national sources can truly be deemed to harmonize the law, as most regulate specific vertical areas rather than applying horizontally. [page 576]
B. Operational Parameters of EC Law in the Europeanization Process
The operational parameters of EC law further complicate the picture of a multi-level system. Four factors, to which attention should now turn, require special emphasis in this regard: the vertical impact of EC law; the functional operation of EC law; the trend to a more restrictive interpretation of the basic principles of EC law; and, finally, the influence of the negative and positive integration concepts on the parameters of EC law.
Due to the fact that EC law-making has always required a reference to a particular legal base within the Treaty, EC law allows only a vertical impact on national private law. While this pointillistic approach in EC secondary law has been heavily criticized, this consequence is inevitable given the terms of the Treaty.[19] While the network of European norms which affect contract law has grown evermore dense, it has thus remained both uncoordinated as between the various norms and vertical in its conceptualization. Additionally, the norms that have emerged from this process have also varied: being both stricter in some areas and less invasive in others.[20] The European Parliament first approached the idea of codifying and rationalizing these disparate norms with two resolutions in 1989 and 1994 respectively.[21] [page 577]
In the course of European integration, the functional spillover theory has proved a more reliable guide than the purely federalist approach. Although federalists saw the motor of integration in the establishment of federal institutions, functionalists took a more pragmatic view. The functionalists assert that integration demands an increasingly invasive level of EC policy coordination and imply that this will trigger a progressive erosion of national sovereignty. According to functionalists, integration requires not simply the abolition of custom duties, but also the elimination of other obstacles to free movement, whether they operate directly or indirectly, and regardless of whether they are instituted by the State or are imposed through private agreement.[22] The EC Treaty, therefore, can be characterized, in de Sousa Santos' terms, as a "porous" legal document, in which policy areas have reciprocal effects upon one another and thus provide the basis for interpenetrations, overlappings, and organic growth, rather than as a self-contained legal regime. This dynamic is reflected in the penetration of national public and private law: beyond the application of the fundamental freedoms in the public context and reaching into private law relationships.[23] Incrementally, broader policy areas are engaged, and subsequently subjected to harmonization, as integration proceeds: the internal market requires an increasingly tighter coordination of a common currency and of minimum standards in environmental protection, social policy, and in consumer protection.[24]
While the doctrines against which EC law is interpreted -- effet utile, the uniform application of EC law, direct effect, supremacy, the autonomy of EC law and the compatibility of acts of Member States and European Institutions with the EC Treaty and secondary law -- as [page 578] developed by the European Court of Justice [25] have proven instruments confirming functionalism, both Member States and, more recently, the European Court of Justice have tried, if selectively, to stem the apparent tide of powers being progressively vested with the EC. They have insisted on a prioritization within the Community's tasks through, for example, the introduction of de minimis style tests. To a large extent, this trend has been the product of the success of functionalism, for the problem with functionalism is that it is boundless and leaves the European Court of Justice "riding a tiger' of its own making.[26] While unrestricted functionalism begs the question of where the outer limits of EC competences are located, restrictive interpretation attempts to compensate for this phenomenon.
In this trend to restrict the operational scope of EC law, the requirement of a legal base in the EC Treaty for any legislation passed has played an increasingly important role.[27] Similarly, the introduction of the principles of Proportionality and Subsidiarity reflect this more restrictive trend.[28] Further evidence of a more restrictive approach is found in the increasingly influential role assigned to the European Parliament in passing legislation: following Article 5(3) EC Treaty, the Community may go no further than necessary to achieve a specific goal, while Article 5(1) of the EC has been interpreted to require that the European Parliament be involved to the maximum extent in the law-making process.[29]
Finally, the European Court of Justice has more recently tried to [page 579] supply guidance on the outer limits of EC law within the national legal orders. It is in this context that the decisions in Keck and Tobacco have to be placed: in Tobacco the Court of Justice indicated the extent of the Community's legitimate law-making capacity, while the court in Keck explicitly rejected the necessity of an ever-deeper harmonization of national sales modalities' law. These steps announce an important caveat to the scope of functionalism.[30]
The Basic Principles of EC law
The view of the Treaty as supplying an "Economic Constitution' (Wirtschaftsverfassung) has traditionally been seen by German Ordoliberals as a mandate for asserting private autonomy and a strengthening of the "private law society' (Privatrechtsgesellschaft). Notwithstanding these views, the EC legal order is both erosive of national law [38] and simultaneously shaped by national law.[39] Despite the Ordoliberal view of a legal order integrating markets purely negatively, a positive, regulatory aspect is imminent within the Treaty, finding material form in EC secondary law and being underscored by mutual recognition: free movement is, for example, dependent upon uniform safety standards which are erosive of private autonomy.[40] The criticism of vertical harmonization is, however, reflected in the new approach to technical harmonization.[41] Through the process of negative integration, [page 582] national law is eroded, while "positive' measures of harmonization at EC level, seen in particular in the "1992 stage' of the transformation of EC law, are increasingly required as integration proceeds.[42] At this point we begin to appreciate the parameters of the Europeanization of private law; conditioned by the need for uniform application and by the broader trend towards convergence amongst the national legal orders.[43]
C. Legal Porosity in the Multi-level System
Having mapped out both the conception of the multi-level system and the operational parameters of EC law, we are now able to chart the interplay of EC, national, and international norms. An overview of the legal levels underscores the coordination problems:
III. THE COMMUNICATION ON EUROPEAN CONTRACT LAW
It is against this background that the Commission's Communication on European Contract law is to be placed. According to the Commission, the porous interface in contract law is inefficient and an obstacle to further integration due to four reasons. First, differences in national law, above all between national mandatory requirements, mean that, as uniform sales strategies cannot be adopted across the EC, the goal of a single market is frustrated. Second, the high level of information costs discourages small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and many consumers from participating in cross-border trade. Third, the combination of legal differences and high information costs leads to a reduction in competition. Fourth, some undertakings engage in cross-border trade either in ignorance or in misapprehension of the law relevant to their transactions.[50] Although these problems appear [page 585] significant, one could dispute whether these problems are as serious as the Commission contends. Moreover, the idea that a consolidated contract or private law code can efficiently, or even necessarily solve these problems, demands a more detailed survey.
At all levels of the multi-tier system, and in the coordination of the levels therein, there is a potential for conflict, which grows with the increase of cross-border trade. The efficient application of private law becomes increasingly important, yet simultaneously more illusive.[51] The Communication can be seen, as mandated by the European Council, as a first step in an assessment of the state of contract-relevant provisions of secondary EC law.[52] Yet, given the wider discussion on the place of private law in the integration process, the Communication can also be seen as an attempt to limit initial reform to the area of contract law, or as an attempt to cut out of private law the centerpiece of contract for specific harmonization. If the first of these approaches is correct, the role intended for contract appears to be that of a catalyst in the process of a wider harmonization of private law. However, if the second alternative is correct, it is difficult to see how contract can be cleanly delineated from general private law.
The Communication focuses upon the problems of a continued uncoordinated development of EC law as it relates to contract provisions; a development which frustrates market integration as much as it compromises the uniform application of EC law.[53]
Additionally, an attempt is made to map the divergent national [page 586] provisions that are particularly problematic for SMEs.[54] The Communication sets as its goal the generation of discussion on the basis of four options:
A. Opening Pandora's Box
The tabling of these options opens a Pandora's box of controversy. While the focus brought to the phenomenon of Europeanization and the increasing regional and global aspects of transactions is something to be welcomed, the Communication is also striking for the range of questions, both of theoretical and practical significance, with which it intersects:
Whether the Europeanization of contract is inevitable and can be integrated into the wider transformation of EC law as a legal order which has more invasive and novel implications for national law as integration proceeds?[60]
Whether the difficulties associated with the pointillistic law-making approach suggest that both the future and the identity of EC law stand to disposition: implying that EC law will have to abandon functionalism and embrace a federal Code?
Whether a contract code would function as a straitjacket, removing all uneven aspects of national contract law, or whether a legal system [page 587] drawing its strength from plural legality can be maintained?
The quality of the ostensibly fundamental principles of EC law, in particular those of subsidiarity and proportionality: does the logic of these principles no longer convince in a mature Community?
The role of economic analysis in legal reform: what are the economic arguments that speak for a consolidation and how is the economic case quantified?
Questions relating to the application, limits and need for a broader reform of EC law. Can the uniform application of EC law be secured without broad harmonization? Can we identify an outer limit to the Treaty? Does the Treaty require revision to secure the competence to harmonize or create a new instrument of EC law?
Further questions arise as to the content, goals and motivations that would stand behind a common contract law in the EC.
B. Extent and Instruments of Harmonization
Superficially, the reform options are designed to invite debate and leave the questions relating to the extent, style and instruments of harmonization open. Yet the options have a chameleon-like character: under Option IV either a restricted harmonization of only those directives regulating cross-border trade or a more comprehensive "unification' of both interstate and domestic contract law appear possible. Should a general contract code emerge from this, national norms which had so far escaped Europeanization would be embraced. Equally, while some argue that the project should be extended to cover private law in general, there have also been suggestions that the scope of reform be reduced to the field of consumer protection. Given the breadth of options, it is important to retain an appreciation of the diversity of the extent of reform that could emerge:
On the appropriate instruments for achieving either the harmonization or unification of contract law, again a range of options is presented in the Communication. Option IV presents the most radical proposal: of passing a new instrument of EC law. A less invasive option [page 588] would be a consolidation: replacing vertical with horizontal directives while maintaining minimum harmonization. Much depends, in this choice of instruments, on the balance struck between ensuring private autonomy and legal plurality and answering the need for a coherent and uniformly applied law. In order to achieve a more coherent law, minimum harmonization could be struck from any horizontal directive(s) that could potentially emerge. Yet, if the goal is to ensure the largest measure of coherence, a stronger case for the use of regulations can be made. While regulations, however, are perceived as ensuring uniformity more securely than directives, it can be countered that regulations pay lip-service to legal certainty. Additionally, it can be argued that the reform exercise must be aimed at more than the preclusion of Member States' ability to introduce higher standards.
In addition to the different models of the extent and instruments of reform, the method by which any instrument(s) would be passed into law is open to debate: whether by unanimity or qualified majority, or whether use should be made of the cooperation procedure between Council and the European Parliament. In this regard, the question of the strategy behind the reform arises: should a step-by-step approach be adopted, beginning with existing secondary law, or should the more radical course be selected; beginning with the introduction a code of contracts.[61] Again the instruments of reform are diverse:
C. Result-orientation in the Communication
While the Communication appears to welcome debate and presents a list of alternatives, it is not a neutral document. This lack of neutrality is illustrated when one observes that neither the inaction proposed in Option I, nor the improvement of existing legislation proposed in Option III, are in fact real options. In reality, the law-maker can neither ignore shortcomings in existing legislation, nor can he be against the idea of improving legislation. The result-orientation of the Communication can be seen in this presentation of "non-options,' a practice which focuses attention on Options II and IV. As with the modernization of EC [page 589] Competition law, the Commission does not appear to take into account alternative options in policy formulation: neither the advantages of a competition amongst legal orders, nor the possibility of developing European conflict rules are considered in the Communication.[62]
IV. RESPONSES TO THE COMMUNICATION
Given the problems identified so far, attention now turns to an analysis of the responses made to the Communication. These have been placed on the Commission's website.[63] The origins of the responses are their first striking feature: Germany and the UK are proportionately over-represented; mainly through academic responses in Germany and by responses from legal practice and industry in the UK. The Mediterranean countries are proportionately under-represented, while no responses were received from either Ireland or Luxemburg. These results make the divide between north and south, and between export-oriented and less export-oriented countries, unquestionably transparent. Moreover, the divide between common law and civil law countries, and the division of labor in the market for international legal services, is reflected in the responses; the Communication provoking hostility in the UK and being welcomed in Germany.
In terms of the "European vision' contained in the responses, analysis reveals a largely federalist vision in France,[64] a more functionalist approach in many of the German responses, and an altogether more hostile response in the UK. It should be noted that, with respect to the UK, this not just in the responses from industry and legal practice but also in the response of the UK Consumers' Association. Additionally, a comparison of the responses from the UK and Germany reveal diametrically opposed perceptions of the Communication. In Germany, the Communication is shown to be perceived as an opportunity to defend the European, civil law-based, preventive approach, while in the UK it is seen as a threat to the common law, litigation-based approach. These varying perceptions make clear, as Wilhelmsson observes, that the responses tend to reflect personal [page 590] ambition, and the sometimes objectively indefensible professional interests within individual countries.[65] An important conclusion, however, is to be drawn from the origins and tenor of the responses. This conclusion is that, if a reform is to emerge from this process, a compromise solution integrating a number of options will be the result.
Table 1: Origins of the Responses
[Table not reproduced.]
A. Identified Problem Areas
The problems identified at the EC level, some of which have [page 591] already been dealt with in this analysis, are briefly mapped out in this section, beginning with the more general problems:
More specific problems emerge from the interplay between the formulations found in individual pieces of secondary law:
While some point to the rather abstract similarities in the approach to contract law in the Member States, which include offer, acceptance, consensus, it is undeniable that important differences remain. In particular, the tension between common and civil law is a source of divergence. This is seen in the assessment of the point at which a contract is concluded, in the requirement of, and specific elements of [page 593] contractual formality, in the requirement of consideration, and in the point of time at which an offer is valid or at which a party may withdraw from the contract. Moreover, there are differences between common and civil law, as well as amongst civil law jurisdictions, in the treatment of the battle of forms and the consequences of the seller's silence on contractually relevant information. Similar divergence emerges in the treatment of unconscionable terms, the treatment of the intent of the parties, the measurement of limitation periods, the attribution of responsibility, and the determination of the setting-off of obligations. It is important, however, to underscore that the lack of coherence at the national level is not only a product of the differences between national legal orders, but is also brought about by the different national transpositions and the institution of "minimum harmonization':[74]
The existing instruments of international private law are seen as inadequate by the Commission, an inadequacy which can be attributed to [page 594] a number of factors. The EC Rome Convention, for example, is inapplicable in many cases. It is restricted to EC Member States, and does not apply to questions of status and capacity, wills, family law, cheques, arbitration, trusts and insurance. Furthermore, the convention adopts special rules on immovable property, the transport of goods and employment contracts, and it restricts the choice of law in B2C transactions: under Article 5 of the Rome Convention, where the national norm has mandatory character, the law of the consumer's habitual place of residence is applicable.[78] Consequentially, conflicts arise where the mandatory requirements of different national legal orders, as respected by international private law, diverge.
Meanwhile the Vienna Sales Convention, which plays a crucial function at the interface of harmonization and international private law, does not apply to contracts for the sale of stocks, shares, ships, aircraft and electricity or to the supply of services. Furthermore, although it deals with the formation of the contract and obligations arising out of the contract, the Vienna Convention does not deal with the validity of the contract, the effect the contract may have on property in the goods sold, or the liability of the seller for death or personal injury caused by the goods.[79] Moreover, the framework provided lacks coherence in the [page 595] control of contractual clauses, the limitation of liability, and the sanctions allowed under contract and damages at large. Similarly, rescission, and the setting-off of obligations are not regulated by UN International trade law. In addition, the question of whether the terms of the UN international trade law are applicable beyond the sale of goods remains unresolved.[80] Finally, the level of abstraction in the international drafts of general principles of contract law limits their utility as instruments of legal practice.[81]
B. Analysis of the Responses
The constraints of this article allow reference to only a select few of the responses made by consumers' associations, financial services providers, Governments, legal practitioners and academics to the Communication.
The differences between the responses made by European Consumers' Associations are striking. While the European umbrella organization, the BEUC argues for a mix of Options III and IV,[82] the [page 596] British Consumers' Association does not consider the lack of harmonization as the main cause of market fragmentation. The BEUC considers more important the language differences, foreign court costs, and the typically low value of transactions in cross-border consumer trade. The Consumers' Association argues that the Commission should have concentrated upon more modest initiatives to improve consumers' access to information, rather than focusing on harmonization. Meanwhile, the response of the ECLG (European Consumer Law Group), sets forth another view. The ECLG advocates the elaboration of EC principles of Consumer law, rather than those of Contract law. In this context, the ECLG criticizes the discrepancy between the Communication and the Commission's Green Book on Consumer Protection.[83] According to the ECLG, neither minimum harmonization, nor consumers' legitimate expectations, should be affected by any reform undertaken.[84]
Barclays Bank argues that any change to the European contract law should take the requirements of proportionality and subsidiarity seriously. The Bank observes that a harmonization in the area of B2B transactions is underway, regardless of the Communication, as the parties are free to choose the applicable law. Additionally, the Bank argues that parties who wish to enter into contracts are only rarely discouraged by legal plurality or the level of transaction costs. The Bank implies that the Communication would only help in those marginal cases, in which the parties were unsure of the commercial utility of their transactions. In the case of B2C contracts, given the restrictions on the choice of law, the Bank concludes that a fragmentation of trade may result. Not [page 597] surprisingly, the Bank would prefer that consumers be bound to the Undertaking's choice of law, rather than the consumer's place of residence. A similar conclusion is reached by the London Investment Banking Association.[85]
Barclays Bank goes on to argue for greater circumspection in the debate: while the elaboration of general principles might seem attractive, the practical difficulties of reaching consensus on the shape of legislation, seen, for example, in the controversy surrounding the Direct Marketing of Consumer Financial Services Directive, shows that Member States are not prepared to make the concessions necessary to achieve consensus. The same is true of the uniform application of general Contract law principles, for which the incomplete ratification of the CISG rules can be seen as a further example. Even if a contract code were to be passed, it is doubtful, according to the Bank, whether the practical application of the text would be as consensual as the Commission assumes, or whether the resulting text would meet the requirement of proportionality.[86] While an opt-in model law would ensure flexibility in the drafting of contracts, it would not necessarily lead to practical harmonization.[87] The German Federal Banking Association (Bundesverband deutscher Banken), which also argues for an opt-in solution, comes to a similar conclusion.[88] [page 598]
While the Bavarian Justice Ministry (Bayerische Staatsministerium für Justiz) focuses on the absence of community competence to initiate a broad reform,[89] the Government of the United Kingdom doubts the necessity of reform and, following a poll of industry, can find no indications that the fragmentation of contract law is in fact responsible for constructing barriers to trade.[90] The U.K. also makes it clear that consensus is required before any reform plans can be executed. Accordingly, the U.K. asserts that any reform must be proportionate, for which a concrete analysis of the effects of any reform on industry and consumers is necessary.[91] As in the response from the Consumers' Association, the U.K. underscores the "real' sources of a lack of coherence in European Contract law. The argument that greater coherence would be produced by a horizontal approach is also viewed with skepticism. In addition, the U.K. fears that contracting parties, when faced with an EC Contract Code, may react by contracting outside of Europe altogether.[92] These opinions suggest the conclusion that, while Options I and III are to be greeted, Options II and IV are either disproportionate, or are only to be resorted to restrictively.[93] In the response of the EEA-EFTA Countries, the focal points of the reform initiative have been criticized. Those countries assert that, rather than concerning itself with theoretical questions on legal coherence, the Commission should have addressed the question of how the law would [page 599] be applied in practice.[94] These countries conclude that more should be done to improve access to justice on the basis of the European Extra-Judicial Network (EEJ-Net).[95] Again, the EEA-EFTA reacts skeptically to Option IV.
The UK Bar Council fears that a civil or contract code would place negotiating parties in a contracting straitjacket, which would frustrate party autonomy and jeopardize the freedom of contract. Furthermore, a contract code would reduce competition and undermine the key role played by London in the provision of cross-border legal services. Moreover, this would be incompatible with the principle of subsidiarity. Again, the Bar Council emphasizes that other factors are responsible for market fragmentation. These factors include the language barriers, the lack of consumer information, the distances between producers and consumers, or between producers. The preference expressed by the Bar Council lies with a combination of measures taken from Options I-III. In stark contrast to most other organizations, the Association of German Notaries views the Communication as an excellent opportunity to strengthen the Civil law tradition in Europe against the corrosive impact of the case-law approach. The only caveat to the German Notaries' support of any future reform surrounds its insistence on a pivotal role falling to notaries in this process.[96]
A general assessment of the responses to the tabled options can be represented in tabular form: [page 600]
Table 2: Assessment of Responses For and Against the Commission's Reform Options
[Table not reproduced.]
V. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ACTION PLAN
In response to the Communication, and the numerous responses submitted, the Council and Parliament have developed an action plan for the future.
A. The European Council's Report
The Council's Report pursues the challenges of ensuring greater coherence and enhancing the quality of law-making. In this regard, the Council awaits the Commission's more detailed analysis of the specific EC norms, whose scope requires adjustment, and of the differences between the national legal orders responsible for market fragmentation. [page 601] As in the Communication, the Report underscores the limits to an international approach and the necessity of improving EC secondary law. As far as an international private law solution is concerned, the possibility of elaborating EC conflict principles is not even mentioned. As far as the questions of the quality and consistency of secondary law are concerned, the Council proposes development of a common terminology and an enhanced internal coordination of law-making. Moreover, the Council invites the Commission to submit proposals in order to produce a tighter coordination and transposition of the laws at the Member State level. As with the majority of the responses, the Council criticizes the limitation of the Communication to contract law. Specifically, the Council calls for an expansion of the scope of the initiative to embrace areas such as tort liability, property law, family law and the law of the free movement of persons. Finally, the Commission is charged with producing a Green or White Book detailing the future direction of the reform proposals by the end of 2002.[101]
B. The European Parliament's Resolution
Central to the Parliament's Resolution are the objectives of producing a more even-handed balance of interests between undertakings and consumers, and reducing the burden on Courts and legal practitioners. The resolution sets forth the parameters that are to be met by the Commission in executing the reform: divided into short-term, mid-term and long-term objectives.[102] The resolution sets forth that an action plan for Options II and III should be in place by 2004. From 2005 and onwards, a publication is required that highlights a comparative analysis detailing common concepts and solutions and developing a longer-term strategy for the implementation of common principles and a common terminology for cross-border and internal transactions. The Parliament indicates that reform should respect contracting parties' rights to a choice of law. According to the action plan, the effects of these new initiatives are to be assessed from 2008 onwards, allowing the passing of a common framework law from 2010 onwards.
In pursuing this ambitious course, the Parliament maintains that the European legal traditions have more in common than they are divergent.[103] Reference is made in this connection to Articles 61 and 65 EC (ex Articles 73i and 73m), which empower the Council to move towards establishing a single area of freedom, security and justice.[104] [page 602] The Parliament's position reflects the Commission's argument that the single market will only be achieved when consumers and SMEs begin to reap the advantages of market integration.[105] The Commission's argument that a conflicts approach is inadequate is shared in the resolution.[106]
Table 3: The European Parliament's elaboration of the Action Plan
[Table not reproduced.]
The Parliament appears convinced that the application of EC [page 603] Contract law could be organized more coherently, and argues, as does the Council, for an expansion of the ambit of reform to questions on general formality requirements, non-contractual liability, unjust enrichment and property law. Yet the Parliament goes much further, arguing that legal coherence also requires the abandoning of minimum harmonization. This can be seen to threaten a substantial erosion of the advantages of legal plurality.[107] However, the Parliament also insists on the continued opt-in nature of any contract law that is passed.[108]
As for the problems relating to the legal base for reform, the Parliament recognizes that reliance on the Article 95 EC legal base is problematic. In this regard, the Parliament charges the Commission with testing whether the differences between instruments of EC law prejudice the achievement of a single market and whether, given the standards elaborated in Tobacco, the objections to Article 95 are valid.[109] With regard to the instruments to be used, the Parliament is concerned with whether a regulation, rather than a directive, should be used in the cross-border context, while maintaining that, as far as policy-based harmonization is concerned, the method of non-exhaustive, vertical Directives is to be kept in place.[110] Finally, the Parliament insists that any law-making that is undertaken be engaged within the cooperation procedure, ensuring the full involvement of the European Parliament.[111]
VI. NEW QUALITY IN THE INTEGRATION PROCESS?
Given the positions set out by the EC institutions and respondents, the question arises whether these changes would lead to a "new quality' of European integration. From the perspective of legal theory, the question can be phrased as one of whether a point of Punctuated Equilibrium has been reached.[112] It is to this question that our attention [page 604] now turns.
A. Chauvinism vs. Europeanism
The majority of responses are marked by either a chauvinistic or a pro-integration exuberance. These appearances frequently mask little more than personal ambition, special interest lobbying, or attempts at securing the cultural hegemony of specific national positions.[113] A more circumspect approach to the debate is called for, given that the Communication is neither a panacea nor a nightmare [114] and that a convergence in private law in Europe, if not a reality through the choice of law, is still possible.[115] Yet in view of the controversial nature of the reform options, it is striking that so few responses to the Communication were made; faced with the shift in the parameters of private law, most practitioners and theorists seem to have fallen into a state of selective amnesia.
B. Federalism vs. State Capacity
Notable in any evaluation of the responses is the divergence between those setting the role of legal harmonization in the context of a broader federal vision, and those who consider that the plans either require a more pragmatic cost/benefit analysis or need to be weighed against the real advantages of legal plurality. From this perspective, the debate can be seen as one between the supporters of federalism and those supporting enhanced State Capacity within regional organizations.[116] The idea of State Capacity can be linked to economic analysis and the advantages of legal plurality, which allow Member States "room for maneuver' on the presumption that a competition of legal orders secures the development of more efficient solutions to legal problems than does unification or "full' harmonization. According to this approach, the EC Treaty is a flexible framework within which Member States can search [page 605] for increased efficiency through reciprocal learning.[117]
C. The Focus on Contract Law
While the recognition of the problems brought about through the Europeanization of private law is to be greeted, the auto-limitation of the Communication to contract law does not do justice to the broader problems caused by Europeanization.[118] This impression is strengthened when the list of secondary law, seen as relevant by the Commission in Annex 1 of the Communication, is considered. This list of the "critical mass' of secondary law has more the character of a potpourri of norms and extends unpredictably beyond the strict confines of Contract.[119] Nevertheless, important areas of non-contract law, which interact with contract, such as property law, are scarcely taken into account. The Communication has thus been criticized for inadequately considering the links between the Doorstep Sales Directive (85/577/EEC), the activities of commercial agents (86/653/EEC), as well as the interaction of the property and contract law aspects of the Timeshare Directive (94/47//EC). Given the importance of advertising on the contents of contracts, a similar criticism may be made of the treatment of the directive on misleading advertising (84/450/EEC).
Though the Communication selectively exceeds the boundaries of "pure' contract, impinging on interests in movable property, unjust [page 606] enrichment, and non-contractual liability, the main focus on contract is arguably justified by the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality. Moreover, it is also the consequence of the limited EC competence to pass legislation. Additionally, the question arises as to whether a deeper impact on the content of national law would truly serve the cause of legal certainty.
The selective and uneven "focus' on contract law is all the more problematic because contract law is divergently deliniated from other areas of law between Member States.[120] Reference in this respect is most frequently made to the common law delineation of trusts and contract, which is seen as responsible for fragmenting the market in Asset Management services across Europe.[121] Additionally, the treatment of interests in movable property is often cited as an area in which the European legal orders generate a further fragmentation, which has lead to a divergence in credit conditions and banking operations within the EC.[122] Given the interpenetration of Contract and Tort, a further argument for a broader approach is disclosed.[123] All these arguments reinforce the case that the divergent legal environments, within which contract law operates, should have found greater recognition.[124] Finally, it can be argued that important international frameworks such as the CISG rules should have played a greater role.[125]
The criticism of the scope of the Communication is pre-programmed. The lack of a legal base constitutes the crucial obstacle which any attempt at replacing vertical with horizontal harmonization or unification has to overcome. "Amputating' selected areas of law, with the aim of subsequently harmonizing them, inevitably leads to further legal fragmentation.[126] This, in turn, can only be addressed by a progressively broader and more novel approach to EC harmonization initiatives.
D. Offending the Basic Principles of EC law?
The Commission appears convinced that it either has or will receive [page 607] the competence to pursue harmonization or unification. With this assumption the Commission steers around a material question because, in the absence of such a competence, the treatment of the questions of subsidiarity and proportionality is premature. A strong case, however, can be made that the Commission does not have the competence to execute the proposed horizontal measure(s).[127] In this regard it is important to underscore the holding in Tobacco: that a divergence between national legal orders does not, of itself, provide an adequate basis for the adoption of directives; that harmonization is only allowed where the national legal norms create either real or potential barriers to European integration. This holding not only calls into question the legitimacy of existing measures of EC law, but also extends to the passing of horizontal secondary law, as well as the passing of a new instrument of EC law under Option IV.[128] Doubts regarding the competence of the Commission are particularly relevant, as the Commission appears to favor a form of cross-border harmonization.[129] On this reading, the Commission will have to wait until the next IGC (Inter-Governmental Conference) in 2004 for the introduction of a new instrument of EC law to allow a broader legislative approach.
Yet conversely, it can be argued that harmonization or even unification is necessary in terms of Articles 3h, 95(1) und 5(3) EC (ex 3h, 100a(1) and 3b(3)) in order to address the obstacles created by legal plurality because the alternatives: whether a recasting of the conflict rules; a harmonization limited to binding regulations; an abandoning of minimum harmonization; or the continued application of the pointillistic approach, would all be inadequate.
Harmonization, on this reading, would be covered by the principle of subsidiarity.
If this is the case then, in order to achieve a harmonization under the terms of Article 95 EC, a qualified Council majority, pursuant to Article 251 EC (ex Article 189b), would be required. However, given the opposition of a number of the Member States, it is difficult to see how such a majority could be achieved and, even if it were, it would be likely that the "losing' parties would take legal action, under Article 230 EC (ex 173), to oppose the forced introduction of any horizontal regulation or Contract Code. As Schmid and van Gerven observe, such a controversial start to a reform project, in an area directly affecting the European Citizen's interests, would likely prove fatal to the acceptance and [page 608] legitimacy of the initiative.[130]
Given the problems relating to the Article 95 EC legal base, the question arises whether alternative legal bases would be more appropriate and whether they could secure a wider legitimacy for reform. Within the EC Treaty the possibilities are limited: Article 94 EC (ex 100) would allow, subject to unanimity, a harmonization but not a unification. Pursuing action under Article 94 would, moreover, preclude the use of Regulations.[131] Regulation(s) could only be adopted on the basis of Article 308 EC (ex 235). Yet, regardless of which of these legal bases were to be used, the question whether the parameters set in Tobacco had been respected would remain. Additionally, following the Nice Summit, attention has to be paid to the enhanced role of the national Parliaments. Without the involvement of national Parliaments, the legitimacy of a nascent European contract law would again be in danger.[132]
The question of the appropriate legal base indicates the difficulty of squaring the reform options with the basic principles of EC law. In addition to the problems encountered in terms of proportionality and subsidiarity, the Communication also questions the essence of the Keck judgment, in which the European Court of Justice held that the validity of national sales laws were not to be sacrificed in their entirety at the altar of European integration.[133]
E. The Institutional Dimension
Further problems arise at the institutional level. The first issue is whether the Commission should be reorganized due to the diversity of law-making approaches within the Directorates-General. The cautious proposal of establishing a legislative "clearing station' inside the Commission has to be placed in the context of the political reality of Community decision-making. While the foundation of such a "super agency,' presumably to be led by some Grand Inquisitor for coherent legislation, to oversee the work of the Directorates-General is barely conceivable, even a more modest rationalization of the Commission's [page 609] organization, as the enlargement debate has proven, would be difficult to achieve. Given these problems, alternative proposals for the institution of either a scientific committee for private law, or the institution of an advisory European Legal Institute have been advanced. Both of these proposals, embodying a technocratic comitology approach, have greater chances of success.[134]
Beyond the question of reforming the Commission's internal operations, or instituting new committees, the mechanism by which the application of the new EC norms could be secured demands attention. In view of the fact that the present system is in crisis, the prospect of the introduction of a contract code strengthens the case for reforming the Community's judicial infrastructure. In this regard, it can be argued that the uniform application of EC Contract law could only be guaranteed by retaining the referrals' system under Article 234 EC (ex Article 177). Additionally, as Leible argues, a court specialized in private law could be founded.[135] Further proposals include encouraging horizontal cooperation between national courts to more effectively ensure the application of both EC and conflict of laws principles.[136]
F. The Political Dimension of a Ius Commune
Federalists dream that a contract code or, ideally, a European civil code would have as integrative an effect on Europe as the legal codes have traditionally had domestically. The BGB (German Civil Code) in Germany and the Code Civil in France are frequently cited as codes that had important functions in the process of nation-building, as legal poles of identification. As Racine puts it, what Europe needs is: un seul droit pour une seule nation.[137] In this regard, many of the responses disclose that the perceived function of a single law would be to safeguard the Civil law approach, an approach perceived as instituting a more preventive legal order than the Common law. This perspective explains the enthusiasm of German Notaries and the hostility of English Barristers to the Communication. Yet, the "pro-Civil law' position is complicated when an attempt is made to secure both harmonization and the advantages of legal plurality, either through retaining minimum [page 610] harmonization, adopting an opt-in Code, or restricting EC Contract law to the cross-border context.[138] Clearly this more flexible approach raises questions as to whether the Europeanization that has taken place constitutes a "forced coordination' of legal norms. This question can be rephrased as whether harmonization can be efficiently combined with legal plurality.[139]
The result-oriented and controversial nature of the reform options begs the question of alternatives. In this section, the alternatives of adopting economic, conflict and consumer protection-oriented approaches are evaluated.
A. Economic Analysis: Harmonization vs. Legal Plurality
While economic analysis can help in assessing reform options, the Commission appears not to have considered such an approach: neither the costs of the barriers to trade nor the level of transaction costs are quantified. The majority of respondents share this aversion to economics. Without producing any figures, the Commission, Parliament, and the majority of respondents assume that the obstacles to trade are significant, and that transaction costs are inflated. Only the Government of the United Kingdome and the Bar Council analyze this issue, and, while the UK cannot find parties withdrawing from transactions or markets on grounds of legal plurality, the Bar Council argues that the conclusion of cross-border contracts is proof in itself that transaction costs are not prohibitive.[140] Both these treatments are superficial; the Bar Council in particular analyzes neither the "marginal transactions' which could be encouraged by a Code, nor quantifies a level of transaction costs which it would regard as exorbitant.
That the UK and the United States function as markets despite an internal plurality of legal orders escapes the Commission's attention.[141] [page 611] This finding, however, supports the case for a competition of legal orders as the more efficient and innovative legal order for contracts. Moreover, the reason why commercial parties in international trade are allowed a choice of law lies precisely in this enhanced efficiency. The conclusions drawn by the Commission, in the absence of debate on the advantages of the legal plurality, are premature.[142] According to economics, the best legal order for contracts is based on market forces rather than regulatory intervention: a legal order which integrates national traditions and is open for communication and learning effects.[143] Therefore, if consolidation is inevitable, the best consolidation would be one respecting these advantages.[144]
Moreover, in any economic analysis of the reform options, it has to be remembered that the costs of introducing a new instrument of EC law are not limited to one-off costs. Among the costs ignored in the debate are the costs of renouncing established national precedent and developing a new case-law independently of national traditions. Moreover, the need for case-law interpretations places policy-makers in an invidious position: while abstractly formulated law lowers the one-off costs, the costs of judicial interpretation increase. Conversely, a detailed law may raise the one-off costs, but not necessarily lead to lower interpretational costs. Additional costs are generated by institutional reform: the coordination instruments between the national courts; the regionalization of the EC courts; the creation of a new European Court of Civil law would all entail expenditure.[145] Finally, costs would arise in the reform of legal training. No studies have undertaken a comparison of the costs involved.
The lack of economic analysis discloses the paucity of the Commission's analysis. In the absence of quantification, a more skeptical response to the options is called for, especially given that proportionality is ostensibly a fundamental principle of EC law.[146] From an economic [page 612] standpoint, the case for harmonization is not as compelling as the Commission suggests.
B. The Multi-level System and European Conflict Rules
A second alternative to the reform proposals is a conflict of laws approach. Again, this approach is notable for its absence in the Communication and the majority of responses to it. Nevertheless, the case can be made that such an approach is required, regardless of any harmonization initiatives, because national law will continue to play a significant role independent of the constellation of options from which the reform of EC contract is finally drawn. As Sonnenberger revealingly observes, a harmonization of cross-border transactions would, for example, only add another level to the multi-level system.[147] Furrer goes on to observe that the continued validity of the multi-level system will require instruments to attribute norms to the specific levels and to determine their relative importance within the network; a recasting of conflict rules, building upon the traditional international private law approach, needs to be incorporated into the reform options.[148]
In constructing a European Law of Conflicts, the observation that the application of national or EC norms is dependent of their contextual interpretation is vital. Given the Treaty framework, reference needs to be made to either an obstacle to trade, identifiable through a transnational component in the dispute, or through the achievement of a policy goal as enumerated in the Treaty: Consumer Protection, SME policy, Environmental or Social policy.[149] In the application of EC law addressing obstacles to trade, a juggling of norms, or a balancing of opposing national and EC norms, applies. The juggling of norms means, that while EC norms on free movement may, for example, play the crucial role and suppress the application of opposing national law, they may, in contrast, be interpreted in the light of public interests, as they are [page 613] respected in the Treaty, for example in Article 86(2) EC (ex 90(2)), allowing national law to be upheld against opposing EC norms.[150] This contextual, rather than hierarchical interplay of norms, must be reflected in a European conflict approach.
To coordinate the multi-level system in this sense, to secure the coherence of the norms involved, and to safeguard the intent of the legislator(s), a matrix of norms and an analytical checklist have to be established. A model for this approach is supplied in Furrer's Principles of a European Law of Conflicts and involves four analytical steps:
I. The Preliminary Examination: As a first step, in a given dispute, a preliminary examination discloses the directly or indirectly relevant international, EC-international, EC and national norms and their respective places in the multi-level system. The collection of these norms initially takes place without regard to the national validity, direct applicability, or the national hierarchy of norms. The assignment of the norms to their specific levels in the system follows on the basis of the identification of the legislator, the court of last instance, and a contextual analysis of the specific norm. Additional national norms relevant to the dispute, such as national mandatory requirements, are disclosed on the basis of a lex fori conflicts' analysis. The norms so identified are interpreted in their respective legal contexts. The systematic, teleological and functional inter-relationships of the multi-level norms are not relevant at this stage of analysis.[151]
II. Demarcation and Coordination of National Norms: The second step of analysis involves a demarcation and coordination of the relevant national norms compatible with the overarching market integration imperative of EC law.
The easiest case is where the national norm is laid down by an EC Regulation or a directly applicable directive and is applicable independently of national conflict rules;
A second proposition allows the application of the law of the country of origin where this is compatible with the free movement provisions in the EC Treaty;
The third proposition involves consideration of national mandatory requirements as they indicate either the applicability of the more stringent law of the country of origin or the recipient state. The law of the country of origin may be displaced by the more stringent law of the recipient state where: [page 614]
b) - where the law of the country of origin is not to be applied because on a literal interpretation of the norms, from a comprehensive assessment of their development, their general context as well as their inherent goals an intent to apply them does not emerge [152] or;
c) - because of their incompatibility with the requirements of Community law.
Additionally the more stringent law of the recipient state can be applied when:
b) - where an intent to apply the law of the country of origin does not emerge from a contextual analysis, and
c) - when the law of the country of origin is not compatible with EC law.[153]
III. Vertical Assignment: vertical assignment is required to regulate the relationship of non-national norms to national norms applicable under the preceding analysis. Non-national norms are applicable where they have national validity, are directly applicable, and have precedence over national mandatory requirements. They are not to be applied, recalling the norm juggling previously analyzed, where: on a literal interpretation of the norms, from a comprehensive assessment of their development, their general context as well as their inherent goals, an intent to apply them does not emerge. In this stage of analysis, the validity, direct applicability, and precedence of non-national norms is interpreted in the light of the national mandatory requirements and the applicable international instrument(s). The validity, direct applicability and precedence of the EC norms are interpreted in the light of the fundamental principles of EC law.
1. Caveat: vertical assignment and national mandatory requirements: the applicable norms identified are measured against the requirements of the applicable legal level so long as this involves either a fundamental freedom guaranteed by EC law, the common constitutional traditions of the Member States or the European Human Rights Convention. Finally, national-mandatory requirements are to be applied notwithstanding the validity, applicability and precedence of countervailing norms of EC law, where the national measures safeguard the EC mandatory requirements. This proposition is asserted in the [page 615] Treaty and developed by the European Court of Justice,[154] and where those national measures respect the fundamental principles of EC law, in particular the principle of proportionality, and provided that the Community has not passed secondary legislation protecting the same objectives as the national measures.
2. Caveat: vertical assignment, full harmonization and upward derogation: the national mandatory requirements are applicable, notwithstanding EC secondary law protecting the same objectives where the EC secondary law does not provide for full harmonization;[155] the Community has not "occupied the field'; the national measure does not compromise the achievement of EC objectives; where the national law-maker refers to the EC mandatory requirements in passing the national measure; or where upward derogation is allowed under Article 95(4).[156]
IV. Securing Full Implementation of the Multi-level norm in the National Context: the applicable norms emerging through the application of the principles developed in this matrix are integrated into the approach taken to questions of national law superficially not addressed by the International, EC-International and EC norms, in order to secure a coherent and full application of the laws of the multi-level system.
C. Adopting or Rejecting a Pro-Consumer Approach?
The third alternative to the reform options is to adopt a more consumer-oriented approach. In this regard the question set by Wilhelmsson, as to the values pursued by the Commission and the character of the law which would emerge, illuminates the discussion. Wilhelmsson's question can be rephrased in a number of ways: is a trend towards a conservative, industry-friendly law, as a retreat from [page 616] regulatory law, discernible in the Communication;[157] or can the Communication be seen in terms a response to the need for greater flexibility?[158] In Leible's view, the Communication holds the promise of ensuring a re-evaluation of the outdated priorities of EC law; as an opportunity to combat the "exaggerated' level of consumer protection traditionally adopted by the EC.[159] To Leible, an important indicator of this trend lies in the fact that a full transposition of the detail of EC secondary law into a Contract Code or regulation would not be possible.[160] The question can also be stated to ask whether a formally lower, though uniform, level of protection can in fact enhance the effectiveness and transparency of consumers' rights. Clearly, whether lower standards really dilute consumer protection, reveals the complexity of analysis on the consumer friendliness of the Communication.
To Lurger, however, what can be said is that this question has not been adequately dealt with in the debate so far. While ordoliberals, distrusting consumer protection in particular and regulatory law in general, see places in the reform for deregulating the European market, Lurger argues that law-makers have to ensure wider contractual solidarity through the material penetration of contracts' provisions in order to maintain consumer confidence. This could be illustrated, for example, by instituting standards on the duty to inform, or advertising or sales practices' regulation. While in this manner the exploitation of weaker parties can be precluded and a redistributive effect can be achieved, a wider point is that the whole Single Market program depends on consumer confidence in transactions in an integrated market.[161] Exemplification of the counterproductive nature of the ordoliberal understanding of the regulatory function of contract norms can be seen in the judgment in Dietzinger: a law of contract which is not concerned with fairness undermines the resort to contracts in general.[162] [page 617]
VIII. CONCLUSIONS: THE FUTURE OF THE EUROPEANIZED, GLOBALIZED CONTRACT
The impression made by the Commission is that it is not content with modest or pragmatic approaches. The Commission clearly perceives itself as being under pressure to deliver major reform, an observation that can be extended beyond the field of Contract law. In its reformist zeal, the Commission announces a new quality to the integration process and undermines understanding of the fundamental principles of EC law. Without an economic analysis of the options, without a full evaluation of the flanking measures, and without a convincing analysis of the legal base requirements, it would appear that today it is the Commission, rather than the Court of Justice, which is "running wild.'
The fact that the collection of result-oriented options presented by the Commission has met with such broad support, both institutionally and in the majority of responses, indicates that the project will eventually be implemented. However, it is also clear that the need to achieve some form of consensus, in Council and with the European Parliament, will mean that any reform emerging from this process will be a compromise: the future will be shaped by a mixture taken from Options II to IV. In the near future, the first two steps appear relatively clear: the first step is in the area of improving the quality of secondary law with at least an initial focus on the consolidation of the provisions of consumer protection; the second step is the elaboration of a Restatement of the European law of Contract, which could be produced by a European Law Institute, yet to be established by the Commission.
The criticisms that are charted in this paper, the limits of the reform options, as well as the suspicion that the terms of debate have been orchestrated remain. These criticisms must be addressed, and before consensus can be achieved answers have to be found concerning the question of the legal base as well as the subsidiarity and proportionality of any reform. Similarly, answers must be provided on the flanking measures necessary to complement the reforms. Simultaneously, however, attempt should be made to escape the shackles of the current debate and engage in a more comprehensive discussion. In this regard, this analysis has indicated a number of alternative approaches; alternatives which need to be integrated into the debate. The alternatives disclosed in this analysis focus on the need for a conflicts approach; the need to reconsider the scope of the harmonization; the utility of economic analysis; and the general character of Contract law:
A European Law of Conflicts: the paucity of the Commission's approach is disclosed in the suppression of debate on a conflicts approach as a complementary instrument for the coordination of the [page 618] multi-level system. Such an approach holds the promise of stemming further fragmentation in European private law. Moreover, a European law of conflicts is required regardless of the mixture of reform options which is finally selected. Without such an approach, further fragmentation and divergent treatment within European private law is inevitable.
The Scope of Reform: the scope of reform deserves greater reflection. Whilst the limitation of reform to "pure' contract or to consumer law would produce further fragmentation, any expansion of the scope of reform to, for example, tort, property law and trusts, would tend to overload the project. Were an EC Contract Code, limited to cross-border transactions, to emerge at the end of the exercise, gaps would almost immediately begin to emerge in the legal framework, which would again question the proportionality of the exercise. While such a 15 +1 system would have the advantage of being compatible with the competition of legal orders, it would tend to increase rather than decrease transaction costs.
Aside from these observations on the direction of developments, the identification of the pitfalls of reform, and the identification of considerations which need to be integrated into debate, there is a broader message behind the reform initiative with global implications and addressed at regional and global policy-makers. The model character of the EC makes the new focus on the effects of international and regional law on national law, and the specific penetration of Private law, all the more intriguing. The picture drawn in this analysis confirms the increasing obsolescence of the nation state in the global trading environment, and the difficulties brought about by the confrontation with a new porous legality of multiple norms. This picture underscores the need for increasing regional and global initiatives, and the need to construct matrices of regional conflict principles to deal with the [page 619] problems in coordinating legal plurality. This development is of more than theoretical interest, as regional conflict law aims to resolve the increasingly complex practical problems in cross-border disputes. Finally, the chameleon-like character of the implications of the advent of the polycentric multi-level system deserves special emphasis: while increasing regionalization is superficially erosive of national sovereignty, this analysis has shown that the process can also work to enhance state capacity. Similarly, harmonization should not be mistaken as announcing a neo-liberal agenda, formally lower yet uniform standards can work to enhance, rather than dilute, levels of consumer protection. [page 620]
FOOTNOTES
* LL.M. Research Centre for Europeanized and Internationalized Private Law, Lucerne University, Switzerland (email: <melkenny@unilu.ch>).
1. COM (2001) 398 final, Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on European Contract law, of 1/07/2001, 2001 O.J. (C255) 1, available at <http://www.europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2001/com2001_0398en01.pdf>; D. Staudenmayer, Die Mitteilung der Kommission zum Europaeischen Vertaragsrecht, Europaeische Zeitschrift Fuer Wirtschaftsrecht 485 (2001).
2. Brigitta Lurger, Prinzipien Eines Europaeischen Vertragsrecht: Liberal, Marktfunktiona, Solidaerisch, Oder ... ?, available at <http://www.ejcl.org/21/art21-2.doc>, at 3: "... recent developments have been banished into special contract laws, the general law of contract assumes a residual function. Special contract laws themselves have lost their clarity and suffer a loss of dogmatic discipline." [Author's translation.]
4. A5-0384/2001 European Parliament Resolution on the Approximation of the Civil and Commercial law of the Member States: Protocol of 11/15/2001 (COM(2001)398 C5-0471/2001 - 2001/2187(COS)), 2001 O.J. (C140 E) 538, available at <http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2002/ce140/ce14020020613en05380542.pdf>; pursuant to: European Parliament Report on the Approximation of the Civil and Commercial Law of the Member States, Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, of 11/6/2001, Document: PE 308.471, available at <http://www2.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//NONSGML+REPORT+A5-2001-0384+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&L=EN&LEVEL=3&NAV=S&LSTDOC=Y>; Council Report on the Need to Approximate Member States' Legislation in Civil Matters (adopted 11/16/2001), available at <http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/01/st11/11621en1.pdf> and <http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/01/st12/12735en1.pdf>. Responses to the Communication, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/summaries/sum_de.pdf>.
5. See W. Hallenstein, Early Realization of Europeanization: Angleichung des Privat-und Prozessrechts in der Europischen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft, 28 Rabelszeitschrift [RabelsZ] 211 (1964). The phenomenon seized by the Parliament in two resolutions: Parliament Resolution A2-157/89 of 26.May 1989 On Action to Bring into line the Private law of the Member States, 1989 O.J. (C 158) 400; Parliament Resolution A3-0329/94, of 6. May 1994 On the Harmonization of Certain Sectors of the Private law of the Member States, 1994 O.J. (C 205) 518; Conclusions of the Tampere European Council (15 and 16 October 1999), available at <http://europa.eu.int/council/off/conclu/oct99/oct99_en.htm>, see in particular, conclusions 28 and 39; Working Paper, Directorate-General for Research "The Private Law Systems in the EU: Discrimination on the Grounds of Nationality and the Need for a European Civil Code,' Legal Affairs Series, JURI 103, available at <http://www.europarl.eu.int/workingpapers/juri/pdf/103_en.pdf>.
A directive shall be binding, as to the result to be achieved, upon each Member State to which it is addressed, but shall leave to the national authorities the choice of form and methods.'
EC TREATY art. 30 (ex 36) provides:
Limits of EC intervention elaborated: See also Procureur de la Republique v ADBHU (Used Oils), Case 240/83, 1985 E.C.R. 531, judgment paragraphs 9, 12 and 15; reverse discrimination exemplified in: R v Secretary of State for Health, ex parte Gallaher, Case C-11/92, 1993 E.C.R. I-3545.
14. On ius commune initiatives see: Walter Van Gerven et al., cases, materials, and text on National, Supranational, and International Tort (Hart ed., Oxford, 2000); Schulze R, Engel A & J Jones (Eds.) Casebook Europäisches Privatrecht (Nomos, Baden-Baden, 1999); Schulze R & H Schulte-Nölke, Casebook Europäisches Verbraucherrecht (Nomos, Baden-Baden, 1999). Working groups: Study Group on a European Civil Code under Prof. C von Bar - successor to the Lando Commission which produced the principles of European Contract law, available at <http://itl.irv.uit.no/trade_law/doc/EU.Contract.Principles.1997.preview.toc.html>; see also <http://www.cbs.dk/departments/law/staff/ol/commission_on_ecl/index.html> and <http://www.sgecc.net>; see Tilburg Working Group on Tort law, at <http://www.civil.udg/es/tort/principles.htm>; the Trento Group on the Common Core of European Contract website, at <http://www.jus.unitn.it/elsg/common-core/home.html>; the Society of European Contract law (SECOLA), at <http://www.secola.org>; and the Working Team on Extra-Contractual Obligations, at http//www.europe.uos.de/ECC/index.htm>.
15. See Andreas Furrer, Response, at10-11, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/5.4.pdf>.
17. MacCormick N, Beyond the Sovereign State, 56 Mod. L.Rev 1 (1993).
21. Supra note 5, Resolutions A2-157/89 and A3-0329/94.
24. R. Gibb & M. Wise, Single Market to Social Europe 33-36 (1993).
26. S. Weatherill & P. Beaumont, EC Law 478 (1993).
28. On Subsidiarity, EC Treaty art. 5 (ex Article 3b) provides:
29. Commission v Council, 1991 E.C.R. I-2867 at 20.
30. Germany v Parliament and Commission (Tobacco), 2000 E.C.R. I-8419 at para. 83:
Para 84:
Case. C-267 and 268/91 Bernard Keck and Daniel Mithouard [1993] ECR I-6097: states generally that the application to products from other Member States of national provisions restricting or prohibiting certain selling arrangements is not such as to hinder, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, trade between Member States, provided that the provisions apply to all affected traders operating within the national territory and provided that they affect in the same manner, in law and in fact, the marketing of domestic products and those from other Member States. See also L.W. Gormley, Reasoning Renounced? The Remarkable Judgment in Keck and Mithouard, Eur. Bus. L. Rev. 196 (1994); M.P. Maduro, Reforming the Market or the State? Article 30 and the European Economic Constitution: Economic Freedom and Political Rights, 3 Eur. L. J. 55 (1997); S. Weatherill, Recent Case Law Concerning the Free Movement of Goods: Mapping the Frontiers of Market Deregulation, 36 CM. L. Rev 51 (1999).
On the "unconditional and sufficiently precise' requirements: Pubblico Ministero v Ratti, Case 148/78, 1979 E.C.R. 1629, at p.1642; Becker v Finanzamt M<um u>nster-Innenstadt, Case 8/81, 1982 E.C.R. 53, at p.71.
Francovich and Others v Italian State, Joined Cases C-6/90 and C-9/90 1991 E.C.R. I-5357, judgment para. 33: "The full effectiveness of Community rules would be impaired and the protection of the rights which they grant would be weakened if individuals were unable to obtain redress when their rights are infringed by a breach of Community law for which a Member State can be held responsible.'
35. Amministrazione delle Finanze dello Stato v Simmenthal, Case 106/77, 1978 E.C.R. 629 at 643.
36. CILFIT v Ministero della Sanita, Case 283/81, 1982 E.C.R. 3415 at p.3430:
43. Supra note 15, Response at p.17.
44. See <http://www.ilo.org>; <http://www.unidroit.org>; and <http://www.un.or.at/uncitral/en-index.htm>; see also Vienna Sales Convention, United Nations Convention On Contracts For The International Sale Of Goods,1980 [hereinafter CISG], 52 Federal Register 6262, 6264-6280 (March 2, 1987) (United Nations certified text in the United States); 15 U.S.C.A. Appendix (Supp. 1987). See <http://www.cisg.law.pace.edu/cisg/text/treaty.html>. See generally, Furrer A, supra note 16, at p.127-131.
Measures in the field of judicial cooperation in civil matters having cross-border implications, to be taken in accordance with Article 67 and insofar as necessary fore the proper functioning of the internal market shall include:
(b) promoting the compatibility of the rules applicable in the Member States concerning the conflict of laws and if jurisdiction;
(c) eliminating obstacles to the good functioning if civil proceedings, if necessary by promoting the compatibility of the rules on civil procedure applicable in the Member States.
46. Council Reg. 44/2001/EC of 22. Dec. 2000, On Jurisdiction and the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, 2001 O.J. (L 12) available at <http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2001/l_012/l_01220010116en00010023.pdf>. Replacing the Brussels Convention passed on 27 September 1968, as amended by Conventions on the Accession of the New Member States to that Convention. On 16 September 1988 Member States and EFTA States concluded the Lugano Convention on Jurisdiction and the Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters, which is a parallel Convention to the 1968 Brussels Convention. Work has been undertaken for the revision of those Conventions, and the Council has approved the content of the revised texts. Council Regulation 1347/2000/EC of 29 May 2000 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and in matters of parental responsibility for children of both spouses, 2000 O.J. (L 160) 19, available at <http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2000/l_160/l_16020000630en00010018.pdf> Replacing The Convention on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters, 1998 O.J. (C 221) 2) Council regulation 1348/2000/EC of 29 May 2000 on the service in the Member States of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters, 2000 O.J. (L 160) 37: <http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2000/l_160/l_16020000630en00370052.pdf>
Replacing the Convention on the service in the Member States of the European Union of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil or commercial matters, of 26 May 1997, 1997 O.J. (C 261) 2. The proposed Convention on insolvency rules was directly passed as a regulation: Council regulation 1346/2000/EC of 29 May 2000 on insolvency proceedings, 2000 O.J. (L 160) 1 <http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2000/l_160/l_16020000630en00010018.pdf>. Generally Furrer, supra n.16 at pp. 139-148.
48. Id. Article 7 of the Rome Convention provides:
(1) When applying under this Convention the law of a country, effect may be given to the mandatory rules of the law of another country with which the situation has a close connection, if and in so far as, under the law of the latter country, those rules must be applied whatever the law applicable to the contract. In considering whether to give effect to these mandatory rules, regard shall be had to their nature and purpose and to the consequences of their application or non-application.
(2) Nothing in this Convention shall restrict the application of the rules of the law of the forum in a situation where they are mandatory irrespective of the law otherwise applicable to the contract.'
49. O. Remien, Über den Stil des europäischen Privatrechts, 60 Rabelzeitschrift [RabelsZ] 7 (1996).
50. O. Lando, C.von Bar, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law: available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/5.23.pdf>:
51. EEA-EFTA Countries, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/1.2.pdf>.
52. Conclusions of the European Council in Tampere, supra note 5, at para. 39.
See also Ekro v Produktschap voor Vee en Vlees, Case 327/82, 1984 E.C.R. 107, para. 11; and State of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg v Linster and Others, Case C-287/98, 2000 E.C.R. I-0000, para. 43.
54. Communication, supra note 1, para. 23.
56. Id. at paras. 52-56; see C. Schmid, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/5.17.pdf>.
57. Such consolidation could be undertaken on the basis of the SLIM initiative: S. Leible, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law at 9, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/5.10.pdf>; SLIM Initiative - Simpler Legislation for the Internal Market - COM (1996) 204 final (Evaluation COM (2000) 104 final.).
58. Communication, supra note 1, para. 60.
60. See generally Weiler, supra note 42.
61. W. van Gerven, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, at p.20, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/5.5.pdf>.
63. Commission Website, supra note 4.
64. J-B Racine, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/5.30.pdf>.
65. T. Wilhelmsson, Private Law in the EU: Harmonised or Fragmented Europeanisation, ERPL 77 (2002), 83-84. On the opportunity reform presents for defending the Civil law approach see the German Notaies' Association Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, available at: <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/4.6.pdf>.
68. O. Lando, Why Codify the European Law of Contract, ERPL 525, 530 (1997).
71. See Response, supra note 57, at 12.
73. S. Camara Lapuente, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, at 4, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/5.28.pdf>.
75. German Federal Banking Association, (Bundesverband deutscher Banken), Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, p.3, available at: <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/2.3.2.pdf>.
77. Remien O., Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, p.2 (656 BGB), available at: <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/5.15.pdf>.
78. Article 5(2) of the Rome Convention, supra note 47 which provides:
Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 3, a choice of law made by the parties shall not have the result of depriving the consumer of the protection afforded to him by the mandatory rules of the law of the country in which he has his habitual residence.
| - | if in that country the conclusion of the contract was preceded by a specific invitation addressed to him or by advertising, and he had taken in that country all the steps necessary on his part for the conclusion of the contract, or |
| - | if the other party or his agent received the consumer's order in that country or |
| - | if the contract is fort he sale of goods and the consumer travelled from that country to another country and there gave his order, provided that the consumer's journey was arranged by the seller fort he purpose of inducing the consumer to buy.' |
Though in the EC in this respect harmonization has been achieved in Directives 1999/44/EG (Consumer Guarantees Directive); Directive 93/13/EWG (Unfair Contract Terms Directive); Richtlinie 90/314/EWG (Package Tour Directive); Richtlinie 87/102/EWG (Consumer Credit Directive) All cited supra note 8.
79. Id. Rome Convention, Article 1 provides:
(2) They shall not apply to:
(3) The rules of this Convention do not apply to contracts of insurance which cover risks situated in the territories of the Member States of the European Economic Community. In order to determine whether a risk is situated in these territories the court shall apply its internal law.
(4) The preceding paragraph does not apply to contracts of re-insurance.
80. See Remien, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, supra note 77, at 5-6.
81. Sonnenberger H-J, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, at para. II, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/5.22.pdf>.
82. BEUC, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, at p.2, available at: <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/3.1.pdf>.
83. Commission of the European Communities, Report from the Commission: On the "Action Plan for Consumer Policy 1999-2001" and on the "General Framework for Community activities in Favour of Consumers 1999-2003", COM (2001) 486, at p.15, available at: <http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/rpt/2001/com2001_0486en01.pdf>; Commission of the European Communities, Green Paper on European Union Consumer Protection, COM(2001) 531, available at: <http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/gpr/2001/com2001_0531en01.pdf>.
84. European Consumer Law Group, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, October 15, 2001, at 3, available at, <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/3.3.pdf> (advocates the elaboration of European Principles of Consumer law provided such principles meet three basic requirements; 1) they remain bound to minimum harmonization; 2) rely on the legitimate expectations of consumers; 3) stick to an understanding of European Consumer Law as marketing practices law).
85. London Investment Banking Association, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, at p.3, available at: <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/2.3.4.pdf>: (contractual freedom in business with consumers is restricted by the provisions of the Rome Convention that a choice of law cannot deprive a consumer of the protection of the mandatory rules of the country where he is domiciled. This ... is a major obstacle to the internal market).
86. Barclays Bank PLC, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law: <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/2.3.1.pdf>: "The differences in contract law ... result in barriers to trade. Whilst a harmonised system of contract law across the EU would be a solution to this problem, it is unlikely to be possible in practice owing to the entrenched nature of the different Member States national systems of law and the inherent differences between Common Law and codified systems." See the Commission's press release on the proposed directive: <http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=IP/02/707|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=>.
89. See Bavarian Justice Ministry, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, October 15, 2001, at 3, available at . See Bavarian Justice Ministry, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, October 15, 2001, at 3, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/1.1.pdf>
90. United Kingdom Government, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, at 2, para. 7, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/1.4.pdf> ("cross-border trade could be obstructed if different national laws ... contained contradictory mandatory rules. No example of an existing contradiction between national mandatory rules is cited and the UK Government is not aware of any ... considers that such problems ... should continue to be addressed on a case-by-case basis. To adopt a horizontal approach in response to specific problems like this would necessarily breach the principles of subsidarity and proportionality.")
93. See id. at PP 18, 22, 23 und 25.
95. Commission of the European Communities, Commission Working Document on the Creation of a European Extra-Judicial Network, SEC(2000) 405, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/acce_just/acce_just07_workdoc_en.pdf>.
96. Association of German Notaries, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/4.6.pdf>.
97. See Lando & von Bar, Response, supra note 50, at 33.
101. Council Report, supra note 4.
102. See Resolution of the European Parliament, supra note 4.
103. Id. at Considerations C und A.
106. See Resolution of the European Parliament, supra note 4, at Consideration J.
111. Resolution of the European Parliament, supra note 4, at P 21.
112. Mark J. Roe, Chaos and Revolution in Law and Economics, 109 Harv. L. Rev. 641, 663 (1996).
113. See Van Gerven Response, supra note 61, at pp.12-13.
118. Lando & von Bar Response, supra note 50, at p.18:
119. See Reich, Response to the Communication on European Contract Law, September 2001, p.1, available at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/5.14.pdf> Annex 1 represents:
121. See Lando & von Bar Response, supra note 50, at p.20.
125. See Leible Response, supra note 57, at 17.
126. See Van Gerven Response supra note 61, at 1.
127. See Leible Response, supra note 57, at 18-19.
128. See Schmid Response, supra note 56, at 5.
129. Id. at 5. Opinion of the European Court of Justice 1/94 WTO [1994] ECR. I-5267 P 59.
131. Van Gerven Response, supra note 61, at p.23.
132. Treaty of Nice, Declarations 13 & 14, 154-155, available at <http://ue.eu.int/cigdocs/de/cig2000-EN.pdf>.
133. See Keck Case, supra note 30, at PP 16-17.
134. See Schmid, Response, supra note 56; Leible S, Response, supra note 57, at 20-21.
135. See van Gerven, Response, supra note 61, at 24-27; see Leible, id., at 14-15.
138. See Furrer, Response, supra note 15, at 6-7.
140. See UK Government, Response, supra note 90; see also Bar Council, Response, at <http://europa.eu.int/comm/consumers/policy/developments/contract_law/comments/4.14.pdf>.
143. See Leible, Response, supra note 57, at 17; Reich N., Response supra note 119, at 4.
149. See Furrer, Response, supra note 15, at 13-14.
151. See Furrer, Response, supra note 15, at 24-25; Furrer, supra note 16, at 503-504
162. Case C-45/96 Bayerische Hypotheken-und Wechselbank v Edgar Dietzinger [1998] ECR I-1199.
Pace Law School
Institute of International Commercial Law - Last updated September 27, 2005