In this volume the Project Group "Restatement of European Insurance Contract Law" presents its Principles of European Insurance Contract Law ("PEICL"). These principles were submitted to the European Commission as a Draft Common Frame of Reference of European Insurance Contract Law ("DCFR Insurance"). The volume comprises the PEICL/DCFR Insurance as well as translations into Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Spanish and Swedish. A short introduction sets out the approach used by the Project Group, how the PEICL/DCFR Insurance relate to the overall Draft Common Frame of Reference, the participation of the Project Group in the CoPECL (Common Principles of European Contract Law) Network, as well as the general structure and characteristics of the PEICL/DCFR Insurance. The Project Group has also drafted the PEICL/DCFR Insurance as a model for an Optional Instrument of European Insurance Contract Law.

This note briefly outlines the objectives pursued and the approach adopted by the Project Group on a "Restatement of European Insurance Contract Law". Furthermore, it provides an overview of the structure and content of the Principles of European Insurance Contract Law (PEICL), which present the first fully developed model for an Optional Instrument in Europe. According to the author, the PEICL provide the European legislator with a tool to overcome obstacles to the internal insurance market, which are formed by the often mandatory character of insurance contract law. Lastly, the note assesses which provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union could be used as the legal basis for enacting an optional instrument of European Insurance Contract Law.

Following the publication of the Principles of European Insurance Contract Law (PEICL) in 2009, there has been significant political and academic discussion on the Principles' possible use as an optional instrument. Experts' views on this topic were exchanged at a conference held in Vienna in January 2010. The distinguished speakers represented European politics, legal science, the insurance industry, insurance intermediaries, and consumers. These independent experts, who were not involved in drafting the PEICL, presented their critical, unbiased opinions on the project. This volume presents the proceedings of the Vienna conference. It also includes a postscript in commemoration of the late Professor Dr. Fritz Reichert-Facilides, whose visionary ideas led to the creation of the Project Group "Restatement of European Insurance Contract Law" and to the drafting of the PEICL.

This volume offers proposed Articles, followed by comments and information. Topics include: plurality of debtors and creditors, assignment, substitution of new debtor and transfer of contract, set- off, prescription, illegality, and conditions and capitalisation of interest.