Since 2001 the European Commission has started a major project : to harmonize European contract law and adopt a common legal instrument. In this regard, the Commission has pointed to the low rate of trades within the European internal market because, a.o., the multiplicity of different legal systems. In this context, it issued a final public consultation on 1 July 2010 as a Green Paper on the steps to be followed to "harmonize" European law of contracts. The European Commission will decide on the nature (binding or optional) and the scope of a future instrument of European contract law (internal contracts or cross-border contracts) before the end of 2011.

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