In 2011 the European Commission came with a draft Regulation for a law covering (the largely contractual aspects of) sales of moveable assets within the EU (CESL). It is meant for cross-border sales to consumers but may also be used by professionals for cross border sales amongst themselves as long as one party is an SME. It is intended as an opt-in instrument. The present draft is a carve out from the Draft Common Frame on Reference (DCFR) earlier presented informally as a text for a codification of private law within the EU. CESL may well be seen as a first step in its adoptation. It raises first the issue of practical need and of the quality of the proposal as a response. A closely related question is whether the EU has sufficient formal authority to legislate in this field in which connection the project poses the further question whether traditional codification thinking in the civil law mould remains the proper way forward and whether statists initiatives of this nature that seek to monopolise the field and subjugate all other sources of law are the most appropriate method of law formation in international business dealings. These matters were never properly considered but affect fundamentally the credibility and prospects of CESL.
European Business Law Review