Substantive and Methodological Integrity of the Proposal for a Common European Sales Law . Inhaltliche und methodische Vollständigkeit des Vorschlags für ein gemeinsames Europäisches Kaufrecht

The Commission's 2011 proposal for a Common European Sales Law goes beyond current EU law harmonization in private law by seeking to create new sui generis provisions for sales contracts. This article examines how well ambitions to lift a part of EU private law from its national law context and to minimize the current law mix for cross-border sales of goods have been accomplished. Where an autonomous operability is the goal, the set of applicable provisions within the chosen scope of harmonization must be complete. This presupposes the inclusion of viable methodological norms for the interpretation of the text at hand and for contracts concluded on its basis. This article highlights some methodological flaws in the proposal and suggests that they should be filled via an explicit authorization of comparative methodology, directed especially to national courts upon enforcement.