European Contract Law Reform and European Consumer Law – Two Related But Distinct Regimes

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraint Howells
Keyword(s):  
Contract Law ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
European Contract ◽  
Consumer Law ◽  
European Consumer ◽  
European Contract Law

scholarly journals The Relevance of the European Consumer Protection Law for the Development of the European Contract Law

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Francesco A Schurr
Keyword(s):  
European Community ◽  
Consumer Protection ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
European Contract ◽  
Consumer Law ◽  
European Consumer ◽  
Business To Consumer ◽  
Further Development ◽  
European Contract Law

This paper deals with the interaction of consumer law and contract law in the European Union. Over the last two decades the European legislature has adopted many legislative measures in the field of consumer protection that were designed to strengthen the single market and to avoid distortion of competition. Thus the European legislature tried to approximate or harmonise consumer protection standards within the European Community and consequently created a new layer of supranational contract law which now coexists with the traditional national contract law regimes. The paper assesses the various types of contract law on the international, supranational and national levels and discusses the problems arising from the fact that the contract law in the European Community is so diverse. Directive 2005/29/EC on Unfair Business-to-Consumer Commercial Practices is discussed as a very prominent recent product of European Community consumer legislation. The paper points out how the development of European consumer law serves as a catalyst for the further development of a genuine European contract law.

‘Fraud’ and ‘Misleading Commercial Practices’: Modernising the Law of Defects in Consent

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Paolo Patti
Keyword(s):  
Law And Economics ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
European Contract ◽  
Consumer Law ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Law ◽  
Civil Codes ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Market Strategies ◽  
European Contract Law

AbstractThe rules provided by the civil codes on defects in consent were designed at a time when the notion of consumer law did not exist and fairness at the pre-contractual stage was not widely considered as a value worthy of protection. Matters have changed radically in the last three decades. The proliferation of rules protecting consumers on a European level, especially through information duties and rights of withdrawal, and the growing impact of general clauses, has led to a fragmentation of domestic contract law. This clash of different sets of rules is particularly conspicuous in the field of unfair commercial practices as the European legislator has not made provision for specific private law remedies for individual consumers in cases of misleading and aggressive commercial practices. This article addresses the particular issue of the applicability of the law of fraudulent misrepresentation to cases of misleading commercial practices. The purpose is to reconsider ‘fraud’ in terms of a defect in consent, in a manner that is both more in line with the modern features of European contract law and better able to counteract new market strategies based on exploiting cognitive weaknesses. The focus is thus put on the relationship between pre-contractual information duties and defective consent, as well as on some insights of law and economics, which demonstrate that ‘consent theories’ or ‘will theories’ cannot provide precise criteria to indicate when a contract should be void. In conclusion, a possible legislative intervention aiming to substitute the rules on fraud for a set of remedies for violation of information duties is discussed.

scholarly journals Problem odpowiedzialności za nienależyte wykonanie obowiązku informacyjnego

2017 ◽  
pp. 93-122
Author(s):  
Magdalena Dziedzic
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Level ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Contract ◽  
Freedom Of Contract ◽  
Consumer Law ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Legal Consequences ◽  
Obligatory Information ◽  
European Contract Law

In European contract law and consumer law the nature of protection through information is based on imposing on business an obligation to make a declaration of knowledge to a consumer, which should enable them to make a rational decision. The implementation of efficient regulations regarding the liability for the improper fulfillment of information duties aims to maintain the level of trust between contracting parties on optimal level, and, as a result, to lead to balancing of their position respecting the freedom of contract principle. Polish model of consumer protection through information, in particular in the area of the liability for the improper fulfillment of information duties by business requires a lot of changes. In national law it is specially problematic, the lack of definition of general, legal consequences of failure to provide obligatory information, providing it in an incomplete, unclear way, but without the intention to mislead the other party.

scholarly journals (Conflict) Principles of European (Consumer) Contract Law – an Update

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 957-967
Author(s):  
Gralf-Peter Calliess
Keyword(s):  
Action Plan ◽  
German Law ◽  
Contract Law ◽  
Green Paper ◽  
Consumer Contract ◽  
European Contract ◽  
Consumer Law ◽  
European Consumer ◽  
Rome Convention ◽  
European Civil Code

In April 2003 I commented on the European Commission's Action Plan on a More Coherent European Contract Law [COM(2003) 68 final] and the Green Paper on the Modernisation of the 1980 Rome Convention [COM(2002) 654 final]. While the main argument of that paper, i.e. the common neglect of the inherent interrelation between both the further harmonisation of substantive contract law by directives or through an optional European Civil Code on the one hand and the modernisation of conflict rules for consumer contracts in Art. 5 Rome Convention on the other hand, remain pressing issues, and as the German Law Journal continues its efforts in offering timely and critical analysis on consumer law issues, there is a variety of recent developments worth noting.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document