The Restatement Group and the European Union
In 2004, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) delivered its own-initiative opinion on "The European Insurance Contract". The opinion emphasised the vital importance of a European insurance contract law for the purposes of the single market. It advised the Commission to consider the PEICL as a European model law.
Following the EESC’s opinion, a "Joined Network on European Private Law" (www.copecl.org) was established by a contract concluded with the EC Commission. The Project Group participated in this Network of Excellence, created within the Sixth Framework Programme, and drafted a Common Frame of Reference of European Insurance Contract Law (DCFR Insurance), which it submitted to the European Commission in 2009. The DCFR Insurance has also been published as "Principles of European Insurance Contract Law (PEICL)" (2009).
The PEICL have since been presented to the public on many occasions at various venues, including at the European Parliament where representatives of the Project Group gave their presentations on 29 April 2010.
The EESC’s 2010 own-initiative opinion on the "The 28th regime – an alternative allowing less lawmaking at Community level" called for an optional European private law following the model of the PEICL ("2nd regime model"). This model was taken up in the EU Commission’s Green Paper on policy options for progress towards a European Contract Law for consumers and businesses of 2010 as an "option 4".
On 8 June 2011, the European Parliament delivered its Resolution on policy options for progress towards a European Contract Law for consumers and businesses, which advocates the adoption of an Optional Instrument including Insurance Contract Law based on the PEICL.
On 17 January 2013, the European Commission decided to set up a "Commission Expert Group on European Insurance Contract Law".