1 DCFR and CFR distinguished

In this volume the Study Group on a European Civil Code (the ‘Study Group’) and the Research Group on Existing EC Private Law (the ‘Acquis Group’) present the revised and final academic Draft of a Common Frame of Reference (DCFR). It contains Principles, Definitions and Model Rules of European Private Law in an outline edition. Among other goals, its completion fulfils an obligation to the European Commission undertaken in 2005. The Commission's Research Directorate-General funded part of the work. One purpose of the text is to serve as a draft for drawing up a ‘political’ Common Frame of Reference (CFR) which was first called for by the European Commission's ‘Action Plan on A More Coherent European Contract Law’ of February 2003.1. As is explained more precisely below, the DCFR and the CFR must be clearly distinguished. The DCFR serves several other important purposes.