Introduction

The Centre of European Private Law is a research institution at the University of Graz for examining private law issues in a cross-border context. Research focuses on various aspects of European private law, in particular in the following areas: tort law, insurance law, consumer protection, commercial law, corporations, choice of law and civil procedure.

The CEPL was installed as an interdisciplinary institution to concentrate, advance and display the expertise of the legal academics of the Faculty of Law at the Karl-Franzens University Graz. In order to be able to promote advancement in as many branches of academic research as possible, the University of Graz concluded cooperation agreements with the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Under this agreement the Institute for European Tort Law (ESR/ETL) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences now provides important scientific input to the Faculty in the field of European private law. In the course of both cooperation agreements the parties will initiate and support joint research projects. The overall purpose of CEPL is to establish Austria as an important centre for European private law research and to extend its research network by establishing new co-operations with groups of researchers of European private law in other EU Member States and worldwide.

The Centre of European Private Law sets its primary goals in research (e.g. development of research projects in the field of European tort law; doctoral school) as well as in teaching. These activities will be carried out by the staff of the centre, of the University of Graz, of the ESR/ETL and by national and international partners of the Centre of European Private Law.