THE REGULATION OF UNFAIR COMMERCIAL PRACTICES
UNDER EC DIRECTIVE 2005/29
This book represents the fruit of a conference held in Oxford on 3 March 2006 under the auspices of the Institute of European and Comparative Law in the Oxford University Law Faculty. Directive 2005/29 is an important new measure in the construction of a legal framework apt to promote an integrated economic space in the European Union. It establishes a harmonised regime governing the control of unfair commercial practices. As such it represents an important exercise in the use of new rules and new techniques, and therefore poses new challenges to EU lawyers. The purpose of this book is to inform and to explore the issues raised by the Directive, issues which are of academic and practical interest in helping to understand the evolution of European consumer law within the broader programme of European market regulation. The intense practical significance of this Directive, which heralds a new regime, is likely to provoke commercial operators to seek to exploit opportunities to pursue practices previously suppressed.
The Regulation of Unfair Commercial Practices under EC Directive 2005/29
New Rules and New Techniques
Edited by
Stephen Weatherill and Ulf Bernitz
OXFORD AND PORTLAND, OREGON 2007
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data Available
ISBN-13: 978-1-84113- 699-9 (hardback)
ISBN-10: 1-84113-699-8 (hardback)
Typeset by Compuscript Ltd, Shannon Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
Preface
This book represents the fruit of a conference held in Somerville College Oxford on 3 March 2006 under the title ‘The Regulation of Unfair Commercial Practices under EC Directive 2005/29: New Rules and New Techniques’. The conference was organised by Stephen Weatherill and Ulf Bernitz under the auspices of the Institute of European and Comparative Law in the Oxford University Law Faculty. It was generously supported by the Wallenberg Foundation, Stockholm. All involved wish to express their warm thanks to the Wallenberg Foundation.
Directive 2005/29 is an important new measure in the construction of a legal framework apt to promote an integrated economic space in the European Union. It establishes a harmonised regime governing the control of unfair commercial practices. We strongly believe, as the title of this book claims, that it represents an exercise in new rules and new challenges. And the purpose of this book is to inform and to explore.
The issues are of academic interest and they are central to understanding the evolution of European consumer law within the broader programme of European market regulation. But these issues carry intense practical significance too. The advent of this new regime will provoke commercial operators to seek to exploit opportunities to pursue practices previously suppressed. We therefore present this book in the confident expectation that it will attract a wide readership.
Jenny Dix helped a great deal in the organisation of the conference and we would like to thank her. Dorota Leczykiewicz undertook the task of editing the papers under severe time pressure, and did a splendid job for which we are very grateful. As ever, Hart Publishing have offered an exemplary service.
Stephen Weatherill,
Ulf Bernitz and
Stefan Vogenauer
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Contents |
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Preface ...................................................................................................... |
v |
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List of Contributors ................................................................................. |
ix |
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1. |
Introduction ....................................................................................... |
1 |
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Stephen Weatherill and Ulf Bernitz |
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2. |
The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and its General |
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Prohibition ....................................................................................... |
11 |
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Giuseppe B Abbamonte |
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3. |
The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive: Its Scope, |
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Ambitions and Relation to the Law of Unfair Competition ............. |
33 |
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Ulf Bernitz |
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4.An End to Fragmentation? The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive from the Perspective of the New Member States from Central and
Eastern Europe ................................................................................. |
47 |
Antonina Bakardjieva Engelbrekt |
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5. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive in Context .................... |
91 |
Ida Otken Eriksson and Ulf Öberg |
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6.Unfair Commercial Practices Directive—A Missed Opportunity? .. 103
Geraint Howells
7. |
Who is the ‘Average Consumer’?.................................................... |
115 |
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Stephen Weatherill |
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8. |
The Relationship of the Unfair Commercial Practices |
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Directive to European and National Contract Laws ...................... |
139 |
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Simon Whittaker |
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9.The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and its Consequences for the Regulation of Sales Promotion and the Law of Unfair
Competition ................................................................................... |
159 |
Jules Stuyck |
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10. The Case for Reclaiming European Unfair Competition Law from |
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Europe’s Consumer Lawyers .......................................................... |
175 |
Christopher Wadlow |
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viiiContents
11.Unfair Commercial Practices: Stamping out Misleading
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Packaging....................................................................................... |
191 |
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Vanessa Marsland |
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12. |
The Challenges Posed by the Implementation of the |
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Directive into Domestic Law—a UK Perspective............................ |
215 |
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Christian Twigg-Flesner and Deborah Parry |
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13. |
Transborder Law Enforcement—Does it Exist?.............................. |
235 |
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Hans W Micklitz |
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Appendix—Directive 2005/29.EC......................................................... |
255 |
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Index..................................................................................................... |
281 |
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