The Council held an orientation debate on how to handle the further negotiations on the proposal for a regulation on a Common European Sales Law.
The Council was invited to address questions relating to:
The debate showed that the views of member states on the proposal varied, but that despite the diverging views it was possible to draw a number of concrete conclusions on the organisation of further work on this dossier.
Even though approaches to the issue are different, there was overall agreement that work should start on the examination of the substance of the Annex to the proposal.
Even though a final position on the legal basis can be taken only once the final structure and scope of the proposal are clear, the diverging views on the question of the legal basis should not present an obstacle to starting work on examination of the Annex.
Particular emphasis was placed on the importance of allowing sufficient time for the proposal to be examined thoroughly during the actual examination of the Annex, taking account of the views and concerns of all the member states.
Moreover, it needed to be ensured during the examination of the Annex that the focus was on the question of the extent to which the individual parts of the proposal would work towards removing the actual practical obstacles to the internal market.