Requirements for Contract’s Form According to Ukrainian and EU Laws

Abstract

The purpose of the article was to determine the peculiarities of the legal norms concerning the form of the contract in the law of the European Union EU. For this purpose, the following methods were used: special-legal, analysis and synthesis, inductive, systemic, generalization, forecasting and comparative. The authors insist on the need to rethink conventional law through the prism of European contract law. Attention was paid to the desirability of refusing to regulate issues related to the form of the contract, without dividing into certain requirements for the form of contracts. It is emphasized that “soft law” acts themselves require in some cases a certain formality (for example, a written form on a durable medium) for a specific legal act, and national laws often require a written form or other formalities. Especially with regard to specific objects, in particular land and other real estate. Unilateral gift obligations and consumer contracts are cited as examples of restrictions to the requirements for the free choice of the form of the contract. It concludes by arguing for the importance of rethinking national approaches to understanding contract form and its legal simplification.