Optional Regulation of Standard Contract Terms

Purnhagen/Rott (eds),Varieties of European Economic Law and Regulation, Springer 2014

26 Pages Posted: 19 Feb 2014

See all articles by Florian Möslein

Florian Möslein

Universität Marburg (Institut für Handels- und Wirtschaftsrecht); Munich Center on Governance (MCG); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Date Written: February 18, 2014

Abstract

Optional regulation of standard contract terms gives rise to several functional pecularities and to a number of difficult systematic questions. More specifically, the present chapter deals with the draft rules on standard contract terms in the proposed Common European Sales Law (CESL). Rather than commenting these rules in sub-stance, however, its focus is precisely on these functional questions. We proceed in three steps, starting with an overview of the existing European rules on standard con-tract terms, including the draft provisions of the CESL. In a second step, we examine whether the CESL rules themselves could potentially become subject of control under (national) standard contract terms legislation, given that these rules are provided in a standard format, and that they are adopted by the contracting parties’ opt-in. Thirdly and finally, we briefly analyse the mode of function of the CESL’s own rules on standard contract terms. These three steps will show that according to the European legislator’s design of the opt-in mechanism, two different optional contract law regimes operate within the very same national legal system. This two-foldedness implies ambiguities, namely because the control of standard terms strongly interacts with substantial rules of contract law. This interaction is a necessary, unavoidable consequence of the embeddedness of the optional regime in national contract law.

Keywords: Standard contract terms, Common European Sales Law, Unfair Contract Terms Directive

JEL Classification: K12

Suggested Citation

Möslein, Florian and Möslein, Florian, Optional Regulation of Standard Contract Terms (February 18, 2014). Purnhagen/Rott (eds),Varieties of European Economic Law and Regulation, Springer 2014, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2397761 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2397761

Florian Möslein (Contact Author)

Universität Marburg (Institut für Handels- und Wirtschaftsrecht) ( email )

Savignyhaus
Universitätsstraße 6
Marburg, 35032
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.uni-marburg.de/fb01/lehrstuehle/zivilrecht/moeslein

Munich Center on Governance (MCG) ( email )

Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
Munich, DE Bavaria 80539
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.mcg.uni-muenchen.de

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

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