European Fair Trading Law


Book Description

The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive is the most important directive in the field of trade practices to have emerged from the EC but it builds upon European activity which has sought to regulate trade practices on both a sectoral and horizontal level. It is an umbrella provision, which uses general clauses to protect consumers. How effective this approach is and how it relates the existing acquis are fundamental issues for debate. This work provides a critical appraisal of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive linking discussion of it to general debates about how fair trading should be regulated. It explains how the Directive fits into the existing acquis. It also examines national traditions where these are necessary to explain the European approach, as in the case of general clauses. The book will be a valuable tool for any student of consumer law seeking to understand the thinking behind the directive and how it will affect national laws. It will also influence policy makers by suggesting how the directive should be interpreted and what policy lies behind its formulation. Businesses and their advisers will use the book as a means of understanding the new regulatory climate post-the directive.




European Fair Trading Law


Book Description

This volume is concerned with explaining the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, exploring the many ambiguities in its drafting and considering its implications for trading and consumer protection within Europe as well as the relationship between European and national trade practices law.




The Brussels Effect


Book Description

For many observers, the European Union is mired in a deep crisis. Between sluggish growth; political turmoil following a decade of austerity politics; Brexit; and the rise of Asian influence, the EU is seen as a declining power on the world stage. Columbia Law professor Anu Bradford argues the opposite in her important new book The Brussels Effect: the EU remains an influential superpower that shapes the world in its image. By promulgating regulations that shape the international business environment, elevating standards worldwide, and leading to a notable Europeanization of many important aspects of global commerce, the EU has managed to shape policy in areas such as data privacy, consumer health and safety, environmental protection, antitrust, and online hate speech. And in contrast to how superpowers wield their global influence, the Brussels Effect - a phrase first coined by Bradford in 2012- absolves the EU from playing a direct role in imposing standards, as market forces alone are often sufficient as multinational companies voluntarily extend the EU rule to govern their global operations. The Brussels Effect shows how the EU has acquired such power, why multinational companies use EU standards as global standards, and why the EU's role as the world's regulator is likely to outlive its gradual economic decline, extending the EU's influence long into the future.




European Consumer Access to Justice Revisited


Book Description

This book asks what is European consumer access to justice, and how we can improve it by means of procedural and substantive laws?




Producers and Consumers in EU E-Commerce Law


Book Description

Producers and Consumers in EU E-Commerce Law argues that the European Union is failing adequately to protect consumers' critical interests in the area of e-commerce. The book compares the Union's close protection of producers' critical interests in e-commerce, considered in terms of authorship and of 'domain-identity', with its faltering steps towards protection of consumers' corresponding interests, considered in terms of fair trading, privacy and (on behalf of children) morality. The book assesses the threats posed to those interests, the extent to which self-help can and does neutralise those threats and, as regards any gaps left, the extent to which the Union has stepped into the breach. The argument is important given that surveys show low levels of consumer confidence in European cross-border e-commerce, a motor of integration par excellence.




European Public Law


Book Description

European integration has been most successful at a legal level and European influences have left an indelible mark on English Public Law. These influences must be understood by students and practitioners if they are to understand our public law and its continuing development. This new book aims to cover the debate surrounding the influence of Community law on the public law of the United Kingdom in a thematic and analytical manner.




The New European Law of Unfair Commercial Practices and Competition Law


Book Description

Since 2005 the law of unfair commercial practices has undergone a revolution. This book presents the first comprehensive and critical examination of Directives 2005/29/EC concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices and 2006/114/EC concerning misleading and comparative advertising. The book offers the first detailed analysis of the various ways in which the two Directives have been transposed in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France, with a particular focus on incorrect transposition. The analysis includes an overview of the enforcement possibilities before national courts and authorities, and as such will be a valuable source for all practitioners, policy makers and academics working in the field of unfair trade law. Ultimately the aim of the book is to expound a sound interpretation of the relationship between unfair trade law and competition law in Europe, and it therefore engages in an original examination of these two cornerstones of European economic law. The author argues that unfair trade law and competition law should be understood as 'living apart together' - complementary but autonomous and sometimes even conflicting.




The Law of the European Union and the European Communities


Book Description

The Law of the European Union is a complete reference work on all aspects of the law of the European Union, including the institutional framework, the Internal Market, Economic and Monetary Union and external policy and action. Completely revised and updated, with many newly written chapters, this fifth edition of the most thorough resource in its field provides the most comprehensive and systematic account available of the law of the European Union (EU). Written by a new team of experts in their respective areas of European law, its coverage incorporates and embraces many current, controversial, and emerging issues and provides detailed attention to historical development and legislative history of EU law. Topics that are constantly debated in European legal analysis and practice are touched on in ways that are both fundamental and enlightening, including the following: .powers and functions of the EU law institutions and relationship among them; .the principles of equality, loyalty, subsidiarity, and proportionality; .free movement of persons, goods, services, and capital; .mechanisms of constitutional change – treaty revisions, accession treaties, withdrawal agreements; .budgetary principles and procedures; .State aid rules; .effect of Union law in national legal systems; .coexistence of EU, European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), and national fundamental rights law; .migration and asylum law; .liability of Member States for damage suffered by individuals; .competition law – cartels, abuse of dominant position, merger control; .social policy, equal pay, and equal treatment; .environmental policy, consumer protection, public health, cultural policy, education, and tourism; .nature of EU citizenship, its acquisition, and loss; and .law and policy of the EU’s external relations. The fifth edition embraces many new, ongoing, and emerging European legal issues. As in the previous editions, the presentation is notable for its attention to how the law relates to economic and political realities and how the various policy areas interact with each other and with the institutional framework. The many practitioners and scholars who have relied on the predecessors of this definitive work for years will welcome this extensively revised and updated edition. Those coming to the field for the first time will instantly recognize that they are in the presence of a masterwork that can always be turned to with profit and that helps in understanding the rationale underlying any EU law provision or principle.




EU Competition Law


Book Description

This book is the fourth edition of a highly practical guide to the leading cases in European Competition Law. It explores the application of Article 101 TFEU, Article 102 TFEU and the European Merger Regulation, as well as the public and private enforcement of Competition Law. In addition, it reviews the intersection between Competition Law and Intellectual Property Rights and the application of Competition Law to State action. Each chapter outlines the relevant laws, regulations and guidelines for each topic. Within this framework, cases are reviewed in summary form, accompanied by analysis and commentary. Endorsements: 'This book should be in the library of every competition law practitioner and academic. The summary of cases is first class. But what makes it really stand out is the quality of the commentary and the selection of the material which includes not only the most important European judgements and decisions but also some of the leading cases from the US and European Member States.'Ali Nikpay, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Former Senior Director, Office of Fair Trading 'The study of EU Competition law requires the analysis and understanding of a number of increasingly complex European Commission and European Court decisions. Through the provision of case summaries, excerpts from the important passages and concise commentary linking these decisions to other key case law and Commission documents, this unique and impressive book, now in its fourth edition, provides the student and practitioner of EU competition law with an extremely clear and useful introduction to these leading decisions' Dr Kathryn McMahon, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Warwick 'The Guide is an invaluable tool for both students and practitioners. It provides a compact overview on the fundamental cases and highlights the essential problems in a clear and sharp analysis.' Dr Christoph Voelk, Antitrust Practice Group, McDermott, Will & Emery LLP 'This book is especially valuable to competition law specialists in Europe and abroad who are interested in the jurisprudence and policy of the European Union and its member states. Familiarity with the European regime is essential for proficiency in competition law today, and this volume provides an excellent foundation.' William E Kovacic, Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy, George Washington University Law School, Former Chairman, US Federal Trade Commission




International Trade and Economic Law and the European Union


Book Description

This timely book explores the developing nature of international trade law,with particular emphasis on World Trade Organization law and its effects within the European Union. In the aftermath of the Seattle upheaval, vital questions are being raised as to the future course of global economic law; its overall legitimacy, implications for democracy, for national social and environmental policies, and for the well being of the world's people. This highly technical subject is rigorously analysed, yet the main legal developments and the major trade disputes are discussed in an accessible narrative style. The first section covers the common historical roots of the GATT and the EC, systems of integration that were part of an idealistic post-war heritage. The book goes on to demonstrate the idiosyncratic development of GATT law, leading to the launch of the WTO in 1995 and the controversial Uruguay Round Agreements which represented the beginning of an enormous proliferation of causes of action and a greatly enhanced legalism for the global trading system.