From the Brussels office

Update on changes at the European Court, and the future for contract law in the EU

The Journal, November 2005, page 40

ECJ changes

Ms Eleanor Sharpston QC will take over as British Advocate General at the European Court of Justice following the resignation of Francis Jacobs QC, who has held the post since 1988.

Amendments to the EC Treaty Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice have been introduced to pave the way for the possible establishment of “judicial panels” and extension of the preliminary ruling competency to the Court of First Instance (CFI). Judicial panels would hear and determine at first instance, certain classes of action or proceeding brought in specific areas. The CFI would have jurisdiction to hear appeals of their decisions.

A number of “tidying up” amendments to the ECJ Rules of Procedure have been agreed by the Council and are awaiting publication in the Official Journal.

No EU contract code

At the UK Presidency conference on European contract law, any notion that a European civil code was up for discussion was dismissed by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer. With a robust defence of the common law system and a clear signal as to the limits of the European project, he made it very clear that harmonisation of national contract law was not on the table. Rather, he said, the “challenge of retaining numerous different laws of contract is to find efficient and effective mechanisms to deal with cross-border cases”. Markos Kyprianou, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection confirmed that the purpose of any future common frame of reference would be to remove obstacles to the internal market arising from differences in national contract law rules.