International Construction Law Review
EUROPEAN CONTRACT LAW AND THE BUILDING INDUSTRY IN THE LIGHT OF THE 2011 PROPOSAL FOR A REGULATION ON A COMMON EUROPEAN SALES LAW
BENOÎT KOHL*
PhD (Liège), LLM (Cambridge) Professor (University of Liège), Visiting Professor (University of Paris II) Solicitor, Stibbe, Brussels
ABSTRACT
On 11 October 2011, the European Commission published its “Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Common European Sales Law”. This proposal suggests adopting an optional instrument in European sales law. It constitutes a significant step in the process of harmonising contract law in the European Union. Now, the influence that European harmonisation of contract law will have on the real estate industry (and in particular the building industry) remains largely unknown. This contribution will analyse the advantages and the challenges of the principle itself of an harmonisation of national regulations in relation to contract law, as regards the specificities of the real estate industry. It will also examine several difficulties in connection with the indirect but specific application of the Proposal for a Regulation of 11 October 2011 to certain contracts of this industry.
INTRODUCTION
On 11 October 2011, the European Commission published a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Common
* The author is co-President of the European Society of Construction Law (ESCL). This paper is based on a presentation made at the ESCL’s Conference in November 2011 at Frankfurt. It is a revised and updated version of the responses from the Property Law Working Group of the Trans Europe Experts network (www.transeuropexperts.eu), (i) to the open consultation following the 1 July 2010 publication of the European Commission Green Paper, and (ii) to the open consultation following the 3 May 2011 publication of the Feasibility Study on European Contract Law. See also H Périnet-Marquet, B Kohl, B Mallet-Bricout and J Sénéchal, “Le secteur immobilier face au développement du droit européen des contrats (Position du pôle immobilier de Trans Europe Expert sur le Livre vert du 1er juillet 2010 relatif aux actions envisageables en vue de la création d’un droit europe en des contrats)”, in M Behar-Touchais and M Chagny (dir.), Livre vert sur le droit européen des contrats—Réponses du reseau Trans Europe Experts, coll. TEE, Vol 1 (Paris: ed. Société de législation comparée, 2011), p. 214 et seq.
The International Construction Law Review [2012
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