Finally, here is a link to Commissioner Reding's most recent speech on the proposal for a Common European Sales Law, given at the occasion of a debate organised by the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) for the purpose of 'buying into the process'. On the point of interpretation of the CESL, which is as important for consumers as it is for professional users of the instrument, Reding observed:
'I also envisage a database that enables
courts to draw on existing case-law from all Member States. This
database - accessible to everybody, but in particular to all legal
practitioners, would ensure transparency and a de-facto convergence of
relevant case-law. The database would contain national rulings applying
Common European Sales Law provisions as well as translated summaries.
This would ensure the consistency of application. In time, this database
would also remove the necessity for judges to investigate foreign law
and compare several laws. This in turn will help to lower litigation
costs and shorten the length of proceedings.
With this in mind, it is reasonable to
expect that the vast majority of issues would be resolved by Member
States' courts without problematic inconsistencies. And that only a
small number of questions would have to be taken to the Court of Justice
in Luxembourg. We should also bear in mind that the Common European
Sales Law builds on the biggest common denominator of contract law
traditions in Member States. Even though the details are new, it would
be a rare occurrence that the concepts and approaches underlying the
instrument are alien to the courts that will have to apply them. This
will limit the risk of fundamentally differing interpretations.
To support us on this journey we also
have excellent work by way of commentaries like that edited by Professor
Schulze. I thank you for your tremendous efforts in producing this commentary - which can be seen as a very helpful tool in showing others
how the Common European Sales Law will work.
This is only one tool but nevertheless an
important pre-cursor of what is taking place: There will be many others
including – as mentioned in your position paper – comments which
explain the Common European Sales Law article by article as well as
suggestions for a digest to be created linking different court cases to
each other.'
To be continued...
