Common European Sales Law to be watered down

My old friend from long ago, Anthea McIntyre MEP, reports (on Facebook, as is the modern way) that the widely-disliked CESL, which many think rather unnecessary, is being watered down. Unsurprisingly, she attributes this to "Conservative pressure". Here's what she said (though for all I know it might just have come from a Conservative party press release):

The European Commission has agreed to scale down and refocus plans for a Common European Sales Law (CESL).

In publishing its legislative schedule for 2015 yesterday, the Commission said plans for a CESL would be replaced by a "modified proposal in order to fully unleash the potential of the digital single market."

...

Conservative MEPs gave the re-think a cautious welcome as a vindication of their determined campaign against the plans.

Ashley Fox, leader of Britain's Conservative and a consistent opponent of the proposed law, said: "This is good news and an encouraging approach from the new commission to weeding out meddlesome and unnecessary legislation so we can concentrate on what really matters.

"The CESL as originally proposed would have duplicated many existing national laws or undermined legislation which actually does a better job for both customers and vendors.

"Now we must be careful that any replacement proposal cannot simply echo what has been withdrawn. Instead we should have much deeper analysis of what actually hinders cross-border trade and online commerce.

Sajjad Karim, Conservative spokesman on legal affairs, said: "The CESL would have achieved nothing but confusion...a classic example of the EU's obsession with legislation making things worse instead of better.

"We have been warning against this for months and I am encouraged that the Commission is coming round to our way of thinking. Now it must move on from this failed project to modern and flexible proposal that will actually help businesses and consumers buy and sell across the EU."