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DEPARTMENT OF LAW EUI Working Papers LAW 2012/23 DEPARTMENT OF LAW DO CONSUMERS AND BUSINESSES NEED A NEW ARCHITECTURE OF CONSUMER LAW? A THOUGHT-PROVOKING IMPULSE Hans-W. Micklitz EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE, FLORENCE DEPARTMENT OF LAW Do Consumers and Businesses Need a New Architecture of Consumer Law? A Thought-Provoking Impulse HANS-W. MICKLITZ EUI Working Paper LAW 2012/23 This text may be downloaded for personal research purposes only. Any additional reproduction for other purposes, whether in hard copy or electronically, requires the consent of the author(s), editor(s). If cited or quoted, reference should be made to the full name of the author(s), editor(s), the title, the working paper or other series, the year, and the publisher. ISSN 1725-6739 © 2012 Hans-W. Micklitz Printed in Italy European University Institute Badia Fiesolana I – 50014 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) Italy www.eui.eu cadmus.eui.eu Abstract The paper is a translation of the Gutachten prepared for the 69. Deutschen Juristentag to be held in September 2012. It pleads for a separate consumer law code outside private law codifications. The benchmarks are: rethinking the concept of the consumer (the vulnerable consumer and the consumer/customer), focussing beyond traditional consumer law on internet sales and on consumer services (telecommunications, energy, transport, financial services), integrating and developing a consistent approach to consumer law enforcement via individual and collective action, via ADR, courts and administrative bodies. The solution is seen in a movable system (bewegliches System) that allows for the connection of substantive rights and remedies to the different concepts of consumers, vulnerable, confident and responsible. Keywords Consumer protection, European consumer law, the notion of the consumer, internet sales, services, enforcement, remedies, ADR and ODR, collective remedies, role of regulatory agencies. Author Contact Details Hans-W. Micklitz, EUI Law Department, Via Boccaccio 121, 50133 Firenze Italy Email: [email protected] GLOSSARY AbzG (Abzahlungsgesetz) German Hire Purchase Act AGB (Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen) General Terms and Conditions of trade AGBG (Gesetz zur Regelung des Rechts der German Act on General Terms and Conditions of Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen/AGB- Trade Gesetz) AMG (Arzneimittelgesetz) Medicinal Products Act AnsFuG (Anlegerschutz- und German Investor Protection and the Functionality Funktionsverbesserungsgesetzes) Improvement Act b2b Business to business b2c Business to consumer BAG (Bundesarbeitsgericht) German Federal Labour Court BaFin (Bundesanstalt für German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) BGB (Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) German Civil Code BGH (Bundesgerichtshof) German Federal Court of Justice BMELV (Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz) Consumer Protection BMWi (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technologie) Technology BNetzA (Bundesnetzagentur) German Federal Network Agency BVerfG (Bundesverfassungsgericht) German Federal Constitutional Court BVI (Bundesverband Investment und Asset German Federal Investment and Asset Management) Management Association BVL (Bundesamt für Verbraucherschutz und German Federal Office of Consumer Protection Lebensmittelsicherheit) and Food Safety CISG United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods CRD Consumer Rights Directive DCFR Draft Common Frame of Reference ECJ European Court of Justice EGBGB (Einführungsgesetz zum Bürgerlichen Introductory Act to the German Civil Code Gesetzbuch) CESL (Gemeinsames Europäisches Kaufrecht) Regulation on a Common European Sales Law EGZPO (Einführungsgesetz zur Introductory Act to the German Code of Civil Zivilprozeßordnung) Procedure EnWG (Gesetz über die Elektrizitäts- und Energy Industry Act Gasversorgung = Energiewirtschaftsgesetz) EuGVŰ (Europäische Gerichtsstands- und Brussels Convention on Jurisdiction and the Vollstreckungsübereinkommen) Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters 1968 (“Brussels Convention”) EuGVVO (Verordnung über die gerichtliche Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 on the Zuständigkeit und die Anerkennung und Jurisdiction, Recognition and Enforcement of Vollstreckung von Entscheidungen in Zivil- und Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters Handelssachen) (“Brussels I” Regulation) FernAbsG (Fernabsatzgesetz) German Distance Selling Act FinDAG (Finanzdienstleistungsaufsichtsgesetz) German Act Establishing the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority GasGVV (Gasgrundversorgungsverordnung) Basic Gas Supply Ordinance GfK Growth from Knowledge GWB (Gesetz gegen German Act against Restraints on Competition Wettbewerbsbeschränkungen) HGB (Handelsgesetzbuch) German Commercial Code InvG (Investmentgesetz) German Investment Act HTWG (Haustürwiderrufsgesetz) German Doorstep Selling Act KapMuG ( Kapitalanleger- German Capital Markets Model Case Act Musterverfahrensgesetz) MiFID Markets in Financial Instruments Directive ProdHaftG (Produkthaftungsgesetz) German Product Liability Act RBerG (Rechtsberatungsgesetz) German Act on Legal Counselling RDG (Rechtsdienstleistungsgesetz) German Legal Services Act Reisevertragsrecht German Travel Contract Law SchlichtVerfV German Mediation Services Procedural (Schlichtungsstellenverfahrensverordnung) Regulation SchuModG Act to Modernise the Law of Obligations (Schuldrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz) SGB (Sozialgesetzbuch) German Social Security Code SME Small and middle-sized enterprises StromGVV German Basic Electricity Supply Ordinance (Stromgrundversorgungsverordnung) TEU Treaty on European Union TFEU Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union TKG (Telekommunikationsgesetz) German Telecommunications Act TzWrG (Teilzeit-Wohnrechtegesetz) German Part-Time Residential Rights Act UKlaG (Unterlassungsklagengesetz) German Injunctions Act UWG (Gesetz gegen den unlauteren German Unfair Competition Act Wettbewerb) VKreditG (Verbraucherkreditgesetz) German Consumer Credit Act VSchDG (EG- EC Consumer Protection Enforcement Act Verbraucherschutzdurchsetzungsgesetz) VZBV (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband) Federation of German Consumer Organisations WpDVerOV (Verordnung zur Konkretisierung Ordinance on Defining the Code of Conduct and der Verhaltensregeln und Organisational Requirements for Securities Organisationsanforderungen für Service Providers Wertpapierdienstleistungsunternehmen) WpHG (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz) German Securities Trading Act ZPO (Zivilprozeßordnung) German Code of Civil Procedure TABLE OF CONTENTS I. The Starting Point - Premises/Preconception/Basic Assumptions/Sets of Problems ................... 1 1. Appraisal of the Rules Concerning Consumer Law ...................................................................... 1 2. Dynamism of Consumer Law and Stability of the BGB ............................................................... 2 3. Consumer Protection Law and Consumer Law ............................................................................ 4 (a) The rise of consumer law ........................................................................................................... 4 (b) The fall of consumer protection law .......................................................................................... 6 4. Assets of Consumer Law ................................................................................................................ 6 (a) Contracts for services ................................................................................................................. 7 (b) Legal redress .............................................................................................................................. 7 5. Consequences of the Europeanization of Consumer Law ............................................................ 9 (a) Maximum harmonisation and loss of competences ................................................................... 9 (b) Reactive consumer law policy ................................................................................................. 10 6. Recasting Consumer Law as Special Law ................................................................................... 11 II. Consumer Law in the System of the BGB .................................................................................... 12 1. Consumer Law as ‘Social Oil’ ..................................................................................................... 12 2. Consumer Law as Foreign Matter in the BGB ........................................................................... 13 (a) Formal integration .................................................................................................................... 13 (b) Discrepancies and inconsistencies ........................................................................................... 14 3. Vibrancy of the Law Concerning Consumers in b2b .................................................................. 16 (a) AGB control of b2b ................................................................................................................. 16 (b) Sales law for b2b ..................................................................................................................... 17 III. Concept of the Consumer ............................................................................................................. 19 1. The ‘Dignity’ of