Brussels, 01/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 1 July, as planned, the European Commission adopted its Green Paper on contract laws which seeks to reach solutions in order to make the single market accessible to consumers and to businesses alike. “I want a Polish, German or Spanish consumer to feel as safe when doing business with an Italian, Finnish or French company online as when they are at home. And I want Europe's small and medium-sized companies to offer their products and services to consumers in other countries without having to become experts in the national contract law systems of all other 26 EU countries”, said Viviane Reding, Justice Commissioner. In particular, the Green Paper suggests the creation of a European contract law, or a “28th system”, which could be chosen freely by consumers and businesses in their contractual relations (for the other measures, see EUROPE 10171). This optional law would be an alternative to the existing national contract laws and would be available in all languages. It could apply in cross-border contracts only, or in both cross-border and domestic contracts. The aim of moving towards an optional European contract law comes within the framework of the EUROPE 2020 strategy, which also encompasses work conducted for reaching harmonised solutions in the field of consumer contracts (EUROPE 10146), and for developing contractual clauses of the European kind. (B.C./transl.jl)