The Commission Communication on European Contract Law aims to broaden the debate on the issue to involve the European Parliament, Council and stakeholders, including businesses, legal practitioners, academics and consumer groups in order to judge whether problems arise from divergences in contract law between member states. A new legislative instrument at EU level could then be developed in the area of contract law. Adopted in 2004, the Communication outlines the plan for developing a Common Frame of Reference (CFR) and a network has been set up to discuss and propose the content of the CFR.

ORGALIME is against the development of mandatory contract law in areas where industry has achieved a high degree of self-regulation by developing fair conditions of trade between companies. Also, a s the current situation of existing different laws for each member state does not currently seem to be causing any significant obstacle to cross-border trade, we believe that the market should be allowed to regulate itself as far as possible.

In our sector we have achieved this through the issuing of ORGALIME’s General Conditions and Model Contract forms, which are voluntary but widely used. We consider that this solution has functioned well for a number of years and simplified trade in engineering goods throughout Europe and even beyond.

Commission officials were receptive to our opinion on this issue and expressed their willingness to consider ORGALIME’s work in this area.. Several ORGALIME members participate in the relevant working groups of the CFR network.