Published by De Gruyter

Volume 15 Issue 1

Issue of European Review of Contract Law

Contents
Journal Overview

Frontmatter

Publicly Available March 27, 2019

Frontmatter

Page range: I-IV

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March 27, 2019

Abstract

The awareness that consumer over-indebtedness is a problem which needs to be tackled through specific measures most clearly emerged at the end of a period in which increased availability of retail financial services was presented as a means to promote consumers’ welfare. While, on the one hand, over-indebtedness is regarded as a problem to be counteracted, European law and policy, on the other hand, promote indebtedness, leading to a fragile equilibrium between opposing purposes which permeate the regulatory framework. How can the two objectives be reconciled, allowing for well-ordered development of a credit-based economy in which debtors in financial trouble are not left behind? This paper suggests the necessity of taking a holistic approach to over-indebtedness, starting from the assumption that, rather than being the manifestation of individual inability to properly deal with finance, the phenomenon is inherent to a credit economy and that modern law must therefore tackle it systematically through a combination of measures: private and public, contractual and non-contractual, preventive and curative, national and supranational. While articulating a critique of some of the rationales underlying ‘debt law’, the paper highlights the necessary interrelation between the possible legal strategies against household over-indebtedness and the need to coordinate them in order to reach an adequate level of protection.

March 27, 2019

Contract Law Aspects of Sustainable Companies’ Certification in the Global Value Chain

Juan Yang

Page range: 31-52

Abstract

Against the background of economic globalization, sustainable development has attracted increasing attention. Given the boundary limits of jurisdiction, national legal systems are often insufficient to promote sustainability on a transnational level. Intergovernmental agreements and the private self-regulation are at play to fill the gap. As an effective instrument of the latter, sustainable companies’ certification assesses the sustainability of the company as a whole rather than evaluate particular products or services. Although private certification schemes vary greatly across different countries, they are all based on contracts. Three parties are involved in the certification regime, namely certification bodies, companies, and third parties such as customers as well as investors. There are different legal relationships between each two of them. In the case of misleading certification, the German Civil Law provides different approaches to solve disputes according to the legal relationship between the parties.

EU Legislation

March 27, 2019

European Union Legislation and Actions

Rossella Delfino

Page range: 53-57

EU Case Law

March 27, 2019

Once more unto the Breach: the Actio Pauliana is a Matter Relating to a Contract in EU Private International Law

Michiel Poesen

Page range: 58-65

Abstract

The decision of the European Court of Justice (‘ECJ’) in Feniks sp z o o v Azteca Products & Services SL provides further insight into the demarcation of the head of jurisdiction in matters relating to a contract, which is contained in the Brussels I Regulation Recast, Article 7(1). In particular, the decision characterises an avoidance action, a so-called actio pauliana, as a contractual matter. As a consequence, disputes that are based on such an action can be brought in the court of the place of performance of the contractual obligation the avoidance action aims to protect. This contribution will explain that while the decision of the ECJ is seemingly in line with recent precedents, it cannot be reconciled with the principle of predictability of jurisdiction, because the decision is based on an overly broad interpretation of the concept of ‘matters relating to a contract’. The ramification of the decision is that a third party that is somehow involved in the contractual dealings of others is at risk of being sued in the place of performance of a contract with which it has a too tenuous connection.

March 27, 2019

European Union Litigation

Fabrizio Esposito, Philipp Hacker

Page range: 66-83

Abstract

This article provides an overview of cases decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning contract law. The present issue covers the period between mid-July 2018 and the end of January 2019.

Book Reviews

March 27, 2019

Max Fabian Starke, EU-Grundrechte und Vertragsrecht, Mohr Siebeck, 2016, ISBN 978-3-16-154977-9

Aurelia Colombi Ciacchi

Page range: 84-87

March 27, 2019

Reiner Schulze – Fryderyk Zoll: European Contract Law, Beck-Hart-Nomos, 2018, 2^nd edition

Esther Arroyo Amayuelas

Page range: 88-90

About this journal

This Journal deals with contract law and serves as a pan-European platform for discussion and analysis. The concept of a European Contract Law is still rather recent: the phrase was first coined in the 1990s. Since the early 2000s when this journal was created, European Contract Law has come to encompass an increasingly comprehensive body of law. There were three driving forces behind this development: the EC harmonisation of laws in the area of the internal market, a generally increased interest in comparative law discussions in contract law, and the European Commission’s Communication on European Contract Law, the Commission’s Action Plan and the Common Frame of Reference process. These developments brought about a changed climate of discussion. The foundations of contract law, examined from many perspectives and in view of various national legal systems and an increasing number of disciplines, are currently being discussed in great detail in the European arena. In 10 years contract law may be the first area of European private law to be regulated in a fully fleshed out European Code.

European Contract Law comprises diverse areas of the law such as sales, standard contract terms, distribution chains, marketing practices, research and development agreements, contract law copyright aspects, financial and investment services contracts, insurance contracts and e-commerce as well as non-discrimination within and beyond labour law and more generally, important aspects of labour contracts and other symbiotic contracts.

The importance and breadth of the field and the methods and questions involved are such that ERCL has established itself as the specialised European journal in this area. Since 2004 the standard of information and discussions on this platform have been consolidated: ERCL discusses the body of law in three sections: articles, case law, and literature on EC Contract Law. This takes place mainly in book reviews and, in addition, contains short sections on the most recent EC legislation, sectoral developments, national developments and other news. The Review focuses on existing law at the EC level and all rules influencing the formation, content and execution of contracts from default rules to regulation, from marketing aspects to the content of contracts, from consumer (and also labour) law to general contract law. The Review is open to a variety of approaches and provides the opportunity to read traditional 'dogmatic' explanations of the upcoming and existing law, assessments through comparative law studies as well as economic analysis and discussions of the philosophical foundations and major structural features. The Review is and has been the site of intense discussion of proposals for codification or, more generally, systemisation and comprehensive development of contract law at the EC level. The European Contract Law Code is too realistic an option and much too important not to be thoroughly discussed as transparently as possible with as many competing ideas and approaches as possible. Several special issues have followed this process in great detail. The journal is meant to help in establishing a functional market of ideas in one of the core areas of private law and one of the most important areas of European private law. ERCL is the journal covering this large body of law and the modern solutions to the problems encountered.

Volume 15 Issue 1

Issue of European Review of Contract Law

Frontmatter

Debt and Relief

A Holistic Approach to the Legal Treatment of Consumer Debt

Abstract

Contract Law Aspects of Sustainable Companies’ Certification in the Global Value Chain

Abstract

European Union Legislation and Actions

Once more unto the Breach: the Actio Pauliana is a Matter Relating to a Contract in EU Private International Law

Abstract

European Union Litigation

Abstract

Max Fabian Starke, EU-Grundrechte und Vertragsrecht, Mohr Siebeck, 2016, ISBN 978-3-16-154977-9

Reiner Schulze – Fryderyk Zoll: European Contract Law, Beck-Hart-Nomos, 2018, 2^nd edition

Volume 15 Issue 1

Issue of European Review of Contract Law

Frontmatter

Debt and Relief

A Holistic Approach to the Legal Treatment of Consumer Debt

Abstract

Contract Law Aspects of Sustainable Companies’ Certification in the Global Value Chain

Abstract

European Union Legislation and Actions

Once more unto the Breach: the Actio Pauliana is a Matter Relating to a Contract in EU Private International Law

Abstract

European Union Litigation

Abstract

Max Fabian Starke, EU-Grundrechte und Vertragsrecht, Mohr Siebeck, 2016, ISBN 978-3-16-154977-9

Reiner Schulze – Fryderyk Zoll: European Contract Law, Beck-Hart-Nomos, 2018, 2nd edition

Reiner Schulze – Fryderyk Zoll: European Contract Law, Beck-Hart-Nomos, 2018, 2^nd edition