This briefing note summarises the observations and recommendations set out in the European Law Institute's Statement on the CESL. It is divided into two parts. The first deals with the content of the proposed Regulation. The second deals with measures relating to effective implementation.

The paper analyses the proposed Common European Sales Law (hereinafter 'CESL') and in particular the provisions on seller's obligation and consumer's remedies in case of non-performance. The Author explores the provisions of the CELS taking into account the rules of Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive emphasising the differences of application and the main innovations that the CESL put in the sales between professionals and consumers. Also giving a positive judgment on the proposed CESL, the Author emphasises the requirement to improve on the text before its ratification.

This briefing note provides general comments on the CESL and an overview of the level of consumer protection in the CESL, particularly the unfair contract terms. Furthermore, the note concentrates on the remedies provisions, analysing the legal guarantee provisions and other rights of the buyer from the viewpoint of a consumer organization.

This book presents a critical analysis of the rules on the contents and effects of contracts included in the proposal for a Common European Sales Law (CESL). The European Commission published this proposal in October 2011 and then withdrew it in December 2014, notwithstanding the support the proposal had received from the European Parliament in February 2014. On 6 May 2015, in its Communication ‘A Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe’, the Commission expressed its intention to “make an amended legislative proposal (...) further harmonising the main rights and obligations of the parties to a sales contract”. The critical comments and suggestions contained in this book, to be understood as lessons to learn from the CESL, intend to help not only the Commission but also other national and supranational actors, both public and private (including courts, lawyers, stakeholders, contract parties, academics and students) in dealing with present and future European and national instruments in the field of contract law. The book is structured into two parts. The first part contains five essays exploring the origin, the ambitions and the possible future role of the CESL and its rules on the contents and effects of contracts. The second part contains specific comments to each of the model rules on the contents and effects of contracts laid down in Chapter 7 CESL (Art. 66-78). Together, the essays and comments in this volume contribute to answering the question of whether and to what extent rules such as those laid down in Art. 66-78 CESL could improve or worsen the position of consumers and businesses in comparison to the correspondent provisions of national contract law. The volume adopts a comparative perspective focusing mainly, but not exclusively, on German and Dutch law.

The recently proposed Common European Sales Law is intended to overcome differences between national contract laws. 19 chapters, co-authored by British and German scholars, investigate for the first time how the projected CESL would interact with various aspects of English and German law.

In recent years, an extensive debate has evolved on the need for harmonisation of European sales law, with the existing diversity of contract laws in Member States being perceived as a barrier to trade and hence as burdensome for the European internal market. In November 2010 the European Commission commissioned a study supporting its Impact Assessment (IA) preparation on this matter. This report suggests that differences in contract law between Member States (MS) do create a barrier to trade, and the value of trade foregone each year between MS due to differences in contract law amounts to some tens of billions of euros. The aim of this paper is to assess the robustness and validity of the method used by the Commission to calculate opportunity and transaction costs, as well as the soundness of the economic model applied to the assessment of policy options; and to assess the reliability of the Commission's assumptions in this respect and whether they can stand up to scrutiny.

In October 2011, the European Commission introduced its Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (CESL) which covers inter alia international business sales – a subject already regulated by the Convention of International Sale of Goods (CISG) which was ratified by 78 member states. How does this new Proposal fit the existing uniform sales law? How have other regions of the world managed the coexistence of global and regional sales law unification? What can Europe learn from the U.S. experience concerning the CISG and the Uniform Commercial Code? What can we learn from the African OHADA which made CISG more or less the internal law of 17 African states, what from Australia where CISG and common law exist alongside? All these questions are intensely discussed in this highly recommendable book written by renowned authors like Larry DiMatteo, Harry Flechtner, Franco Ferrari, Robert Koch, Ulrich Magnus and Bruno Zeller.

The proposal from the European Commission for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (CESL) has raised divergent reactions from various parties across Europe. This volume contributes actively to this discussion, offering the lawyers' point of view. The book promotes a debate and an exchange of views among representatives from the European Commission, the European Parliament, and legal practitioners regarding the main legal issues of the CESL. The outcome is a dialogue where general concerns (such as: Do we need a CESL? Can the CESL achieve what it sets out to do? etc.) receive articulate answers considering both theoretical and practical implications of the CESL.