Friday reading recommendation – Draft Common Frame of Reference

Hello, and sorry for the long silence on my part! December and January have been busy… I will try to post more regularly, especially on European private law issues where a lot(!) is going on at the moment…

A publication to look out for in February is definitely the first version of the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR). Aficionados may already have downloaded it from www.law-net.eu (registration is necessary but very straightforward). The print version will become available through Sellier this month under the title ‘Principles, Definitions and Model Rules of European Private Law. Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR). Interim Outline Edition.’

With a total of 402 pages, the DCFR is by no means a small book. It combines the results of research carried out by the Study Group on a European Civil Code (SGECC, aka the von Bar Group) and the Research Group on EC Private Law (Acquis Group). The final edition, expected by the end of 2008, will be even more voluminous, including not just model rules but also comments and notes in a format similar to the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL).

The DCFR is explicitly presented as an academic/scholarly project which is not to be equated with the ‘political’ CFR called for by the European Commission in its 2003 Action Plan on a More Coherent European Contract Law. The DCFR may provide a model for that, but it is not said that the CFR will have the same coverage and contents as the DCFR.

2008 looks to be an interesting year for European private law… I am curious to see if and how the DCFR may influence the review of the Consumer Acquis – another of the harmonisation projects of the European Commission. Currently, the review is limited to eight directives, including the Consumer Sales Directive and the Unfair Terms Directive, but leaving aside other ‘big’ directives in the consumer field. Why not include the Consumer Credit Directive? And what about the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Product Liability Directive? With maximum harmonisation on the agenda (see the responses to the Green Paper on the Review of the Consumer Acquis), much may be learnt from the examples set by these directives…!

The first conferences on the DCFR are coming up (see for example ERA and Secola). So the DCFR definitely provides some good Friday/weekend reading… Stay tuned for more news!

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