‘Good-bye harmonisation by directives, hello cross-border only regulation?’ – a way forward for EU Consumer Contract Law

his paper considers the shortcomings of the established practice of creating EU Consumer Law through directives which harmonise selected aspects of national law. It is argued that this approach has failed to provide a suitable legal framework to support crossborder consumer transactions. It then goes on to develop an alternative approach. First, the case for choosing regulations rather than directives is made. Secondly, it is argued that EU action should be confined to the cross-border context. The notion of ‘cross-border’ itself is discussed. The analysis is set against the background of the various policy options for EU Contract Law presented in the 2010 Green Paper