Press Release: European Commission seeks contract law solutions to smooth Single Market for consumers and businesses

Contracts are the basic building blocks for relationships between businesses and consumers. The European Union’s Single Market is built on contract laws. However, businesses – particularly small and medium-sized companies –are hampered in cross-border sales because they must follow different contract laws for each of the EU’s 27 Member States. Only 8% of consumers buy online from another Member State (Consumer Scoreboard 3rd ed.). In addition, 61% of cross-border sales are rejected because traders refuse to serve the consumer's country. This is largely due to regulatory barriers and legal uncertainty about the applicable rules. To address some of these problems and boost the potential of Europe's Single Market, the European Commission proposed on 1 July 2010, in a strategic policy paper, several options for a more coherent approach to contract law. The goal is to bring more legal certainty for businesses and simpler rules for consumers. A public consultation on the policy paper will run until 31 January 2011.