The European Scrutiny Committee of the UK Parliament, which scrutinises draft EU legislation on behalf of the House of Commons, has published a short progress report on the European Commission's proposal for a Common European Sales Law. The Committee endorses the government's refusal to support the proposal (see Legal update, Government publishes UK response to Common European Sales Law proposal). It notes that the views of most respondents to the government's call for evidence correspond with the subsidiarity concerns set out in the Reasoned Opinion sent by the House of Commons to the Commission on 7 December 2011 (see Legal update, House of Commons challenges compliance of Common European Sales Law with EU subsidiarity principle). Of particular interest is the Committee's opinion that the constitutional basis for CESL is such that the Government should consider a legal challenge before the ECJ, should the proposal be adopted. The report records that a reply to the Reasoned Opinion was not received until September 2012. The Committee has addressed a number of questions to the responsible Minister, including whether he thinks the proposal is ever likely to be adopted, and if so when; or whether, alternatively, there is sufficient opposition among Member States to make adoption unlikely. Pending the Minister's replies, the document remains under scrutiny.

Source: European Scrutiny Committee Twenty-Fifth Report, MOJ (33227) Common European Sales Law, 19 December 2012.