*** NORBERT REICH, HANS-W. MICKLITZ, PETER ROTT, KLAUS TONNER: European Consumer Law. Intersentia Ltd (Trinity House, Cambridge Business Park, Cowley road, Cambridge CB4 0WZ, UK. Tel: (32-3) 6801550 - fax: 6587121 - Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.be ). « Ius Communitatis » series, No.5. 2014, 419 pp. €95, £90, $133. ISBN 978-1-78068-086-6.
European Union consumer law has now become the core of European civil law and even though European law has now become the cornerstone of the legal systems of member states, it has now reached such a point that it is provoking, according to Stefan Grundmann, questions that threaten to revolutionise the best anchored national traditions and make entire libraries redundant. It is on this basis that the Ius Communitatis series that he edits, seeks to take stock of this Europeanisation of law, area by area and get to the very heart of the legislative content, acts of transposition and case law. This volume testifies to the valuable nature of this kind of approach. At least it does for those working in this area, such as lawyers, business legal experts, magistrates, senior civil servants, not to mention the students studying law and who want to specialise in this area. They will be able to find many different facets to the law in this book, particularly on the question of consumer law.
Hans-W. Micklitz is behind this initiative (lecturer in economic law at the European University Institute of Florence) and Norbert Reich (Emeritus Prof of private law and European economic law at the University of Bremen). In 2003 these two specialists produce a weighty tome of 1250 pages, written in German. This mass of information was whittled down in the first edition of this book in English, to which Professor Peter Rott (Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen) added his support, as well as Klaus Tonner (University of Rostock) whose scientific contribution has helped make this second edition an irreplaceable wealth of knowledge on the history, different situations and trends in European consumer law. This book is based on a horizontal approach, which basically means that the legal materials and instruments relating to the consumer's position in the context of the European Union have been selected in a general context and without reference to the sometimes very specific regulations on corporate activities and consumer transactions. As explained by Norbert Reich and Hans-W. Micklitz in the beginning of the first chapter, this book tackles the central zones in European economic law from a consumer's point of view as the typical, "homo oeconomicus passivus ".
Once the scene has been set (a description is provided of the protection given to consumers in the Union), the political and legal developments, basic concepts and theory in the context of consumer rights, directives and other legal instruments, in addition to the most recent changes relating to the concept of "vulnerable consumers" are looked at. The chapters that follow each focus on the directives and case law involved in advertising and commercial practices (particularly in light of the directive on comparative advertising), abusive commercial clauses, the repercussions of the horizontal sales directive on consumption and other kinds of contracts (package tours, multi-property, services of general interest, et cetera.). The fifth chapter contains an analysis by Peter Rott of the 2008 directive on consumer credit contracts that seek to establish "total harmonisation". This was created as a precedent for future Union instruments in the area of consumer contracts. Different ways of regulating the financial services are also covered by the author. The final four chapters focus on product responsibility (particularly in light of the broad interpretation applying in this area, recent rulings, the European Court of Justice, the tensions that have resulted from this area with certain member states are also discussed), in addition to cross-border deals, which opened the door to international private law, individual and collective consumer protection mechanisms and, finally, issues relating to e-commerce. The book is both a reference book and valuable working instrument.
Pierre Bouvier
*** FRIEDL WEISS, CLEMENS KAUPA: European Union Internal Market Law. Cambridge University Press (University Printing House, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8BS, UK.
Tel: (44-1223) 358331 - email: information@cambridge.org - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). 2014, 326 pp. £28.99. ISBN 978-1-107-63600-2.
Everything that is essential for a student within the legal and regulatory framework in the single European market can be found in this very pedagogical publication. In it, Friedl Weiss (University of Vienna) and Kaupa (University of Amsterdam) illustrate the origins of the internal market and the subsequent common characteristics and structures in the freedoms bestowed by the different treaties. The two authors then provide a clear and precise explanation of the free market of goods, European citizenship, the free movement of workers, the freedom of establishment, the freedom to provide and receive services and, finally, the free movement of capital and payments. Each of the different chapters is structured in exactly the same way, which helps facilitate an understanding of the subject matter. It should also be noted that there are also many examples and illustrations that are graphically highlighted, in addition to the systematic references to supplementary publications in this area that can help those who wish to deepen their knowledge of this subject.
(PBo)
*** NORBERT REICH, HANS-W. MICKLITZ, PETER ROTT, KLAUS TONNER: European Consumer Law. Intersentia Ltd (Trinity House, Cambridge Business Park, Cowley road, Cambridge CB4 0WZ, UK. Tel: (32-3) 6801550 - fax: 6587121 - Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.be ). « Ius Communitatis » series, No.5. 2014, 419 pp. €95, £90, $133. ISBN 978-1-78068-086-6.
On the one hand, the European Union's strategic goal is to protect the internal market from state aid that could undermine competition. It also, at the same time, however, seeks to promote R&D, innovation and the transfer of technology to industry. It also seeks to support European companies, so that they can become top-flight players on the globalised markets, whilst ensuring that state aid does not undermine competition in the extensive common market, without borders. This publication is the extension of a thesis written at the Max Planck Institute in Munich. It gets to the very heart of the apparent contradictions and assesses the legal framework that allows for exceptions to the general ban on state aid for R&D. To this end, Mario Cisneros focuses on the definitions of state aid and the application of its constitutive legal principles, such as the granting of selective advantage or potential distortions to competition. These can occur in areas of intellectual property right as part of public-private cooperation in R&D. The book also provides a normative analysis of how rules are devised for evaluating intellectual property rights in the context of Union state aid. In this very detailed study, the author sought to make a contribution to the ambitious programme for modernising state aid and paving the way to the new Community framework for state aid to research, development and innovation, as well as the R&D provisions in this area, which are connected to it within the General Block Exemption Regulation.
(PBo)
*** PATRICK HUBERT, MARIE LEPPARD, OLIVIER LECROART: Day-to-Day Competition Law. A Practical Guide for Businesses. Editions Bruylant (39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5480713 - fax: 5480714 - email: commande@larciergroup.com - Internet: http://www.larciergroup.com ). Competition Series. 2014, 297 pp. €66. ISBN 978-2-8027-4206-7.
This book has been put together by lawyers specialising in area of competition law and plays the role of a guardian angel to enterprise services. Its goal is to ensure that its readers do not fall victim to inadvertently contravening the competition rules currently in force in European Union or similar legislation resulting from rules elsewhere in the world, given that the system set up by the Commission has proved an important source of inspiration. References are also made to the anti-trust system in the US. The writers present a number of economic, legal and political theories upon which this legal sector has been devised, which helps us to understand why the authorities draw on them. The main thrust of the book, however, provides practical advice on how to avoid committing any costly errors and demonstrate good faith when indeed this is necessary.
(PBo)