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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 October 2017
Proposals from the European Commission to work towards greater harmonisation of contract law, and indeed private law more generally, have been described in terms that apparently distance these plans from the introduction of a code civil europa. Nevertheless, the programme for developing ‘non-sector-specific measures’ into a ‘common frame of reference’ constitutes in its fundamentals and aspirations the ambition to create a European law of contract. And the method for the construction of this code replicates the process devising the great European codes of the nineteenth century: a painstaking scholarly endeavour to find consistency and coherence in the divergent national private law systems, except that no legislative process is foreseen.
1 Commission, ‘A More Coherent European Contract Law: An Action Plan’ [2003] OJ C63/1.
2 Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours [1990] OJ L158/59.
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5 Commission, ‘European Contract Law and the Revision of the Acquis: The Way Forward’, COM(2004)651 final.
6 Ibid, para 2.3.
7 Ibid, para 2.1.1.
8 Ibid, para 2.1.2.
9 Ibid, Annex I.
10 Collins, H, ‘The “Common Frame of Reference” for EC Contract Law: A Common Lawyer’s Perspective’ in Meli, M and Maugeri, MR (eds), L’Armonizzazione Del Diritto Privato Europeo (Milan, Guiffre, 2004) 107 Google Scholar.
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12 Gerven, W van, ‘Codifying European Private Law: Top Down and Bottom Up’ in Grundmann, S and Stuyck, J (eds), An Academic Green Paper on European Contract Law (The Hague, Kluwer Law International, 2002) 405, 420–1Google Scholar; Weatherill, S, ‘The European Commission’s Green Paper on European Contract Law: Context, Content and Constitutionality’ (2001) 24 Journal of Consumer Policy 339 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Weatherill, S, ‘European Contract Law: Taking the Heat out of Questions of Competence’ (2004) 15 European Business Law Review 23 Google Scholar.
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28 Directive 98/27/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 1998 on injunctions for the protection of consumers’ interests [1998] OJ L166/51; Commission ‘Proposal for a Directive on injunctions for the protection of consumers’ interests (Codified Version)’ COM(2003)241 final, 2003/0099(COD).
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