Published by De Gruyter

Volume 17 Issue 4

Issue of European Review of Contract Law

Contents
Journal Overview

Publicly Available December 2, 2021

Frontmatter

Page range: i-iii

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Article

December 1, 2021

A New Legal Design for the Credit Reporting Industry

Luigi Buonanno

Page range: 347-372

Abstract

Under the traditional and well-established conception, credit bureaus are understood as being little more than vessels storing customer data that has been furnished by specific suppliers, such as banks, intermediaries and, more generally, lenders. Accordingly, credit bureaus are deemed to play a ‘neutral’ role in the credit market. Hence, in Europe and the US, they are generally not responsible for any inaccuracies in the information they put into circulation, despite data quality being crucial for the proper functioning of the market and for a fair allocation of resources. This circumstance engenders, however, a conflict between the market interest in accurate data and the ‘endogenous’ for-profit interest of credit bureaus. More specifically, despite their performing an important activity in an oligopolistic environment, credit bureaus are presently allowed to pursue their for-profit interest without any substantial accountability as regards their ‘exogenous’ function of transmitting accurate data. This disequilibrium oftentimes results in under-performance and a low level of data quality. The analysis points out, also through a comparative analysis with the rules governing the US credit report system, how these circumstances in the credit market sector can imperil some pivotal objectives of the EU legal policy, which aims at ensuring equal levels of protection among citizens of Member States within a unique environment dependent on the cross-border exchange of information.

EU Legislation

December 2, 2021

European Union Legislation and Actions

Rossella Delfino

Page range: 373-376

Book Reviews

December 2, 2021

The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in the Member States

Fabrizio Cafaggi

Page range: 377-384

December 1, 2021

Smart Contracts – Technological, Business and Legal Perspectives

María Teresa Sala Climent

Page range: 385-389

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.