The harmonization of the EU contract law

Gyuris, Árpád

Keywords: European Union, contract, harmonization

Why would a common contract law be optimal for the member states of the European Union? The main reason is that it would be much cheaper to set up contractual relations. If somebody conducts economic activities in the European Union, and if the same regulations apply everywhere, this unity can help this corporate or private person (entrepreneur) to work under the same conditions. If somebody wants to sell a product in the EU he/she has to be well-prepared about the different legal systems in various countries. To know these regulations is very expensive. Apart from the costs, there is also the risk of accepting another country’s legal norms, which are different than home rules. The essence of the EU is the common market. The steps that the EU has taken to deepen the level of the integration in the last decades lead to this direction. Many firms or private persons do not dare to step over the borders of their home countries, because of their ignorance of the legal systems of other countries. If the EU can create a unity in some fields of the legal systems, business transactions across the borders can be made much easier.