Twenty years have already gone by since Part I of the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) was published and more than ten since the whole project was completed. The PECL, together with Law enacted by the European Union (and its predecessors) have fostered intense activity among scholars in respect of the so-called European Contract Law. A new ius commune in this field seems to be increasingly accepted across the continent and subsequent proposals on Uniform rules for Contract Law have attracted the attention of stakeholders. Among these projects are the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) or the Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (CESL).Great effort has been put into their preparation and also the analysis of their particular rules. The aforementioned proposals, however, still remain soft law with doubtful perspectives as regards enactment by the corresponding European institutions. At this stage, it is unclear whether the whole process of drafting uniform rules is still worthy to be pursued.

The conference aims to assess the current need for uniform rules in European Contract Law, taking into consideration its possible past benefits. The programme is structured according to the needs set out in the PECL: (i) the facilitation of cross-border trade within Europe and the strengthening of the internal market; (ii) the creation of an infrastructure for EU rules governing contracts; (iii) the provision of guidelines for national courts and legislatures; and (iv) the construction of a bridge between the Civil Law and the Common Law. These benefits were to a certain extent assumed by the subsequent projects and initiatives. The programme includes a fifth part which expects to analyse the influence of the European process on non-EU countries.The conference commemorates the 30th anniversary of the incorporation of the Kingdom of Spain in the EEC/EU and serves as the closing event for the Jean Monnet Module “Towards a Common Private Law of Europe”, granted to IE University.