The EU optional instrument: absorbing the private international law implications of a common European sales law

This paper explores the process of the “Europeanization” of national Private Law regimes in the European Union from its antecedents in the internal market programme to the current proposals surrounding the (Draft) Common Frame of Reference ((D)CFR) and a Common European Sales Law. The paper begins by critically evaluating the rationale behind the consolidation/codification initiative, the evolution of the initiative and then drills into the broader implications of this process; considering, in particular, the Private International Law dimensions to the proposed (optional) Common European Sales Law (CESL). In this analysis we therefore enter a polycentric legal environment traversing Contract Law, Consumer Law, EU Law and Private International Law.