A delegation of UK solicitors was this week selected to advise a European Commission forum on forming a model contract law across all member states.

The team will join 160 lawyers from all over the EU in March to begin work on the model law.


The UK legal delegation includes Philip Allery, associate at Putsmans.wlc in Birmingham, Anthony Ridge, partner at Denison Till in York, in-house lawyers George Browning from Lloyds TSB and Victoria McKenna from Barclays, and representatives from the Law Society, Bar Council and the commercial bar. Consumer groups have also been invited to join the discussion.


The forum will meet for a series of workshops over the next four years with the aim of producing a model law in 2009. The model will cover sale of goods, supply of services, consumer credit, loan agreements and financial services, insurance and agency and distribution law. It will also create a common encyclopaedia of terms for interpreting EU directives.


Mr Allery said: 'At the moment the difference in rules in member states, for example the different rights offered to consumers, are making trading difficult for the small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that do not have the resources to seek legal advice on every occasion. We plan to write a model contract law which will become more generally known to these businesses to give them more confidence when trading with European partners. If businesses across Europe could use model laws in key areas, it would help businesses everywhere.'


Mr Ridge added: 'We are trying to eliminate some of the problems experienced by UK SMEs making contracts with companies elsewhere in the EU. One of the important issues will be the calculation of damages for breach of contract.


'One of the English delegates suggested that we should just adopt English law because it is the best. I would like to see something quite similar to English law.'