The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) – which consists of national representative and regulatory bodies from 31 full member states and 11 associate and observer countries – released a statement yesterday supporting the Common European Sales Law (CESL) plan, encouraging EU institutions to adopt it with an enlarged scope.
‘The proposal reflects a number of important legal principles underlined by the CCBE and is a useful legal instrument’, said the organisation’s president, Vienna-based lawyer Marcella Prunbauer-Glaser. ‘We see no reason to limit the scope of the CESL regulation to cross-border sales and to SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises], as is the case with the proposal.’
Freedom of contract
The CCBE pointed out that the plan is in line with its own prior suggestions, including ensuring freedom of contract as a guiding principle underlying the CESL, providing common lists of unfair and potentially unfair contract terms and including the concept of ‘individually negotiated’ contract terms, which excludes the applicability of the unfairness test in cases where the parties were able to influence the terms of the contract.
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