Following the failed attempt, if only temporarily, to achieve a European constitution, the implementation of an action plan for a coherent European law of contract is a second monumental legal project in which the European Union is investing considerable prestige and resources. Currently the effort entails the formulation of a "Common Frame of Reference". The particular charm of this idea is that no one knows exactly what lurks behind the concept. Representatives of the European Commission continue to stress that codification of a European law of contract is not the intention; and one can now scarcely find official support for the once-promoted vision of the Common Frame of Reference as the basis of an "optional instrument".  However, the content of a Common Frame of Reference as outlined by the European Commission in 2004 could to a large extent be nonetheless mistaken for a contractual code.

The development of Common Frame of Reference is in the meantime being undertaken by a European Union coordinated research network, at the center of which lies the Study Group on a European Civil Code (Study Group) and the European Research Group on Existing EC Private Law (Acquis Group). Since the beginning of 2005 the two groups have intermittently put forward drafts which have subsequently been discussed at workshops - also coordinated by the Commission - composed of interested parties (the so-called "stakeholders").  A complete draft of the Common Frame of Reference is to be completed by the end of 2007 in order to allow for its publication in final form prior to the completion of the Barrosso Commission's term in 2009. Still, up to this point it is difficult to identify how the Study Group and the Acquis Group are coordinating their work. Regardless, it is worth noting that the agenda of the Study Group has extended well beyond that of the European Commission in that codification proposals are also being prepared for legal areas systematically related to contract law. The fact that stakeholder meetings in 2006 wholly concentrated on consumer contract law might indicate that the enterprise is to be limited to treatment of the consumer law acquis. Nonetheless, whatever the ultimate shape of the Common Frame of Reference, there can be little doubt that it represents the European Union's most interesting and potentially momentous project currently underway in the field of private law.

Initial reactions to the Common Frame of Reference and points of consideration were presented at a ZEuP symposium on this topic in Graz. The following conference papers were published in the ZEuP 1/2007.
 
Reinhard Zimmermann, Der Gemeinsame Referenzrahmen: ZEuP-Symposium in Graz
 
Alex Flessner, Der Gemeinsame Referenzrahmen im Verhältnis zu anderen Regelwerken
 
Uwe Blaurock, Lex mercatoria und Common Frame of Reference
 
Reiner Schulze, Gemeinsamer Referenzrahmen und acquis communautaire
 
Verica Trstenjak, Die Auslegung privatrechtlicher Richtlinien durch den EuGH: Ein Rechtsprechungsbericht unter Berücksichtigung des Common Frame of Reference
 
Norbert Reich, Der Common Frame of Reference und Sonderprivatrechte im "Europäischen Vertragsrecht"
 
Gerhard Wagner, Die soziale Frage und der Gemeinsame Referenzrahmen
 
Dieter Martiny, Common Frame of Reference und Internationales Vertragsrecht
 
Fryderyk Zoll, UN-Kaufrecht und Common Frame of Reference im Bereich der Leistungsstörungen: Ein Beitrag aus der Perspektive der Acquis Group
 
Ernst A. Kramer, Bausteine für einen "Common Frame of Reference" des europäischen Irrtumsrechts
 
Ulrich Magnus, Das Recht der vertraglichen Leistungsstörungen und der Common Frame of Reference
 
Jürgen Basedow, Der Gemeinsame Referenzrahmen und das Versicherungsvertragsrecht
 
Winfried Tilmann, Schadensersatz bei der Verletzung von Rechten des geistigen Eigentums
 
Jens Kleinschmidt, Der Gemeinsame Referenzrahmen in der Diskussion: Bericht zu den Diskussionen auf dem ZEuP-Symposium in Graz
 
Eckart Brödermann, Betrachtungen zur Arbeit am Common Frame of Reference aus der Sicht eines Stakeholders: Der weite Weg zu einem europäischen Vertragsrecht.
 
 
 
The Common Frame of Reference was also discussed in Section 1 (European Contract Law) at the 4th European Jurists' Forum from 3-5 May 2007 in Vienna. General Rapporteur for this section was Reinhard Zimmermann. A volume containing all of the conference papers as well as a general conference report will be released by the Manz publishing house.