In light of the implementation in the EU Member States of Directive 2011/83/ EU on Consumer Rights, this book – originating from the First Ferrara Forum on European Consumer and Contract Law – offers an innovative and systematic analysis of the new rules on consumer sales contracts in 10 EU Member States, bringing together contributions by distinguished scholars from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

Following an introduction containing comparative remarks on aspects of the implementation process and its outcome in the EU Member States, the authors of the national reports focus especially on the meaning and scope of application of the implementing provisions of the Consumer Rights Directive, on their interplay with the existing rules on consumer contracts, and on the relationship between the national ‘special’ rules on consumer sales and the general domestic rules on sales contracts. Furthermore, each contribution looks ahead, assessing the next steps for European sales law and its possible interaction with the national regulation of consumer sales. In pursuit of this goal, each contribution also includes a final section containing an analysis of the influence of the withdrawn draft Common European Sales Law (CESL) on the development of Member States’ and European sales law.

This approach and the contents of the book are all the more important following the release by the European Commission on 9 December 2015 of three legislative proposals under its Digital Single Market Strategy: the Proposal for a Directive on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content, the Proposal for a Directive on certain aspects concerning contracts for the online and other distance sale of goods, and the Proposal for a Regulation on ensuring the cross-border portability of online content services in the internal market.

The book therefore addresses academics, practitioners and members of the European institutions, who have the task of applying and shaping new European consumer and contract law.

Giovanni De Cristofaro and Alberto De Franceschi

Ferrara, May 2016