Abstract
This contribution looks to the past of consumer law. There are two reasons for doing so: the personal one is that this author accompanied Hans Micklitz during the first years of his career in Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin, when we established in 1986, together with Udo Reifner, the law journal Verbraucher und Recht, and the academic one is that an answer to the question in which direction a development might go is easier to be found when you know where it comes from.
So this contribution draws an arc between the US consumer policy of the Kennedy era and its spread over to Western Europe—that is to say to the states of Western Europe, not to the then EEC—and the completion of the first generation of consumer (contract) Directives with the Sales of Consumer Goods Directive in 1999 and to the full harmonisation approach of the second generation of Directives. At the beginning, Member States were active, whereas the EEC only adopted programmes which were not implemented; at the end of this period, the question is what will be the next steps after targeted full harmonisation. In retrospect it becomes clear that the relation between national and European influence in consumer law cannot be fixed to a certain stage but is subject of a process of continuing changes.
Hans Micklitz is, as the author of this contribution, a contemporary witness of the decades described herein, and he contributed substantially not only to academic discussions, but also to the process of political decision-making. Younger readers may find access to the historical background of today’s consumer law.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Dir 1999/44/EC on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees, [1999] OJ L 171/12.
- 3.
JF Kennedy, ‘Special Message to the Congress on Protecting the Consumer Interest’ (1962), www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9108.
- 4.
Bundestags-Drucksache (Federal Gazette; BT-DrS) VI/2724.
- 5.
BT-DrS 7/4181.
- 6.
CDU and SPD, ‘Deutschlands Zukunft gestalten, Koalitionsvertrag zwischen CDU, CSU und SPD, 18. Legislaturperiode’ (2013) 124 ff.
- 7.
Preliminary programme of the European Economic Community for a consumer protection and information policy, [1975] OJ C 92.
- 8.
Second programme for a consumer protection and information policy, [1981] OJ C 133.
- 9.
Council Resolution of 23/6/1986, [1986] OJ C 167/1.
- 10.
Preliminary programme for a consumer protection and information policy.
- 11.
United Nations General Assembly, Consumer Protection, Resolution No 39/248 of 9 April 1985; on which see D Harland ‘The United Nation Guidelines for consumer protection’ (1987) 10 Journal of Consumer Policy 245.
- 12.
‘Access to adequate information to enable … [consumers] to make informed choices (…)’, no 3 (c) of the Guidelines.
- 13.
See AH Benjamin ‘Consumer protection in less developed countries—the Latin American experience’ (1996) 4 Consumer Law Journal 47.
- 14.
See K Tonner, ‘Towards a sustainable consumer contract law’ (2012) 10 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht 56.
- 15.
Consumer law books were published on national, not European law. A first book on European consumer law was L Krämer, EEC Consumer Law (Louvain-la-Neuve, Centre de Droit de la Consommation, 1986), which in its structure followed the Reich and Micklitz series.
- 16.
This act was a transposition of Dir 98/27/EC.
- 17.
The Verbraucherkreditgesetz (Consumer Credit Act) was the transposition of the original Consumer Credit Dir, 87/102/EEC. Whereas the Directive did not provide for a withdrawal right, the German act of 1990 did so—making use of the minimum harmonisation principle.
- 18.
Act of 30/3/1973.
- 19.
Loi no 75-627.
- 20.
Loi no 72-1137.
- 21.
Dir 85/377/EEC, now part of the Consumer Rights Dir (Dir 2011/83/EC).
- 22.
Loi no 88-21; Dir 97/7/EC, now part of the Consumer Rights Dir (Dir 2011/83/EC).
- 23.
Except the accession treaties with new Member States.
- 24.
[1976] OJ C 241/6: Product Liability Dir 85/374/EEC.
- 25.
[1977] OJ C 22/6: Doorstep Sales Dir 85/577/EEC.
- 26.
[1979] OJ C 80/6: Consumer Credit Dir 87/102/EEC.
- 27.
Dir 85/374/EEC; see also H-W Micklitz, in N Reich, H-W Micklitz, P Rott and K Tonner, EU Consumer Law, 2nd ed (Cambridge, Intersentia, 2014) ch 6.
- 28.
With one exemption, Dir 98/6/EC on consumer protection in the indication of the prices of product offered to consumers.
- 29.
For critique see T Wilhelmsson, ‘The abuse of the “confident consumer” as justification for EC consumer law’ (2004) 27 Journal of Consumer Policy 317.
- 30.
Case 120/78 Rewe-Central AG v Bundesmonopolverwaltung für Branntwein [1979] ECR 649.
- 31.
Case 8/74 Procureur du Roi v Benoît and Gustave Dassonville [1974] ECR 837.
- 32.
One of the many examples is the purity of German beer rule, which protected German breweries against competition from abroad, case 178/84 Commission v Germany [1987] ECR 1227.
- 33.
Case C-205/07 Gysbrechts and Santurel Inter BVBA [2008] ECR I-9947. See also N Reich, ‘The ECJ and the autonomy of Member States—Some critical remarks on the use and methodology of the proportionality principle in the internal market case law of the ECJ’ in H Altmeppen et al (eds), Festschrift für Günther H. Roth zum 70. Geburtstag (Munich, CH Beck, 2011) 615.
- 34.
Dir 84/450/EEC.
- 35.
Dir 2005/29/EC.
- 36.
Especially the Dir on injunctions for the protection of consumers’ interest, originally Dir 98/27/EC, now Dir 2009/22/EC.
- 37.
See K Tonner, ‘Die Rolle des Verbraucherrechts bei der Entwicklung eines europäischen Zivilrechts’ (1996) Juristenzeitung 533.
- 38.
Dir 97/47/EC, now Dir 2008/122/EC.
- 39.
And the E-Commerce Dir 2000/31/EC, which is no mere consumer protection Directive.
- 40.
Dir 93/13/EEC.
- 41.
On which see Micklitz in Reich et al, EU Consumer Law, ch. 4.
- 42.
Gesetz zur Bekämpfung unlauterer Telefonwerbung (Act against unfair commercial practices by telephone) of 2009.
- 43.
COM(2002) 208.
- 44.
Ibid.
- 45.
See G Howells, H-W Micklitz and T Wilhelmsson, European Fair Trading Law (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006).
- 46.
Dir 2002/65/EC.
- 47.
COM(2007) 99.
- 48.
COM(2008) 614; on which see G Howells and R Schulze, ‘Overview of the proposed consumer rights Directive’ in G Howells and R Schulze (eds), Modernising and Harmonising Consumer Contract Law (Munich, Sellier, 2009) 3.
- 49.
See H-W Micklitz and N Reich, ‘Crónica de una muerte anunciada: The Commission proposal for a Directive on Consumer Right’ (2009) 46 CML Rev 471; P Rott and E Terryn, ‘The proposal for a Directive on consumer rights: no single set of rules’ (2009) Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 456; K Tonner and M Tamm, ‘Der Vorschlag einer Richtlinie über Rechte der Verbraucher und seine Auswirkungen auf das nationale Verbraucherrecht’ (2009) Juristenzeitung 277.
- 50.
See the then Minister of Justice B Zypries, ‘Der Vorschlag für eine Richtlinie über Verbraucherrechte’ (2009) Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 225.
- 51.
Dir 2011/83/EC.
- 52.
See H-W Micklitz, ‘The targeted full harmonisation approach: looking behind the curtain’ in Howells and Schulze (eds), Modernising and Harmonising Consumer Contract Law, 47.
- 53.
Dir 2008/48/EC.
- 54.
Dir 2008/122/EC.
- 55.
COM(2013) 512.
- 56.
Reg (EC) 593/2008.
- 57.
See T Wilhelmsson, ‘Introduction: Harmonization and national cultures’ in T Wilhelmssson et al (eds), Private law and the many cultures of Europe (Alphen an den Rijn, Kluwer, 2007) 3.
- 58.
See J Basedow, ‘Das BGB im künftigen europäischen Privatrecht: Der hybride Kodex’ (2000) 200 Archiv für die civilistische Praxis 445.
- 59.
Case C-423/97 Travel Vac SL v Manuel José Antelm Sanchis [1999] ECR I-2195.
- 60.
Case C-481/99 Georg Heininger and Helga Heininger v Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank [2001] ECR I-9945.
- 61.
Dir 94/47/EC.
- 62.
See S Weatherill, ‘The Consumer Rights Directive: How and why a request for “coherence” has (largely) failed’ (2012) 49 CML Rev 1279.
- 63.
See Micklitz, ‘The targeted full harmonisation approach’.
- 64.
On which see P Rott, ‘Consumers and services of general interest: Is EC consumer law the future?’ (2009) 30 Journal of Consumer Policy 49.
- 65.
H-W Micklitz, Brauchen Konsumenten und Unternehmen eine neue Architektur des Verbraucherrechts?—Gutachten A zum 69. Deutschen Juristentag (Munich, CH Beck, 2012). In English Do Consumers and Business Need a New Architecture of Consumer Law? (2013) 32 Yearbook of European Law 266.
References
Basedow, J, ‘Das BGB im künftigen europäischen Privatrecht: Der hybride Kodex’ (2000) 200 Archiv für die civilistische Praxis 445.
Benjamin, AH, ‘Consumer protection in less developed countries—the Latin American experience’ (1996) 4 Consumer Law Journal 47.
Harland, D, ‘The United Nation Guidelines for consumer protection’ (1987) 10 Journal of Consumer Policy 245.
Howells, G, Micklitz, H-W and Wilhelmsson, T, European Fair Trading Law (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006).
Howells, G and Schulze, R, ‘Overview of the proposed consumer rights Directive’ in G Howells and R Schulze (eds), Modernising and Harmonising Consumer Contract Law (Munich, Sellier, 2009) 3.
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Krämer, L, EEC Consumer Law (Louvain-la-Neuve, Centre de Droit de la Consommation, 1986).
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Micklitz, H-W and Reich, N, ‘Crónica de una muerte anunciada: The Commission proposal for a Directive on Consumer Right’ (2009) 46 CML Rev 471.
Micklitz, H-W, Reich, N, Micklitz, H-W, Rott, P, Tonner, K, EU Consumer Law, 2nd ed (Cambridge Antwerp Portland, Intersentia) 2014.
Reich, N, ‘The ECJ and the autonomy of Member States—Some critical remarks on the use and methodology of the proportionality principle in the internal market case law of the ECJ’ in H Altmeppen et al (eds), Festschrift für Günther H. Roth zum 70. Geburtstag (Munich, CH Beck, 2011) 615.
Reich, N and Micklitz, H-W, Consumer Legislation in Germany (Wokingham, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1980).
Reich, N and Micklitz, H-W, Consumer Legislation in the EC Countries: A comparative Analysis (Wokingham, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1981).
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Rott, P and Terryn, E, ‘The proposal for a Directive on consumer rights: no single set of rules’ (2009) Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 456.
Tonner, K, ‘Die Rolle des Verbraucherrechts bei der Entwicklung eines europäischen Zivilrechts’ (1996) Juristenzeitung 533.
Tonner, K, ‘Towards a sustainable consumer contract law’ (2012) 10 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Umwelt- und Planungsrecht 56.
Tonner, K and Tamm, M, ‘Der Vorschlag einer Richtlinie über Rechte der Verbraucher und seine Auswirkungen auf das nationale Verbraucherrecht’ (2009) Juristenzeitung 277.
Weatherill, S, ‘The Consumer Rights Directive: How and why a request for “coherence” has (largely) failed’ (2012) 49 CML Rev 1279.
Wilhelmsson, T, ‘The abuse of the “confident consumer” as justification for EC consumer law’ (2004) 27 Journal of Consumer Policy 317.
Wilhelmsson, T, ‘Introduction: Harmonization and national cultures’ in T Wilhelmssson et al (eds), Private law and the many cultures of Europe (Alphen an den Rijn, Kluwer, 2007) 3.
Zypries, B, ‘Der Vorschlag für eine Richtlinie über Verbraucherrechte’ (2009) Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 225.
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Tonner, K. (2014). From the Kennedy Message to Full Harmonising Consumer Law Directives: A Retrospect. In: Purnhagen, K., Rott, P. (eds) Varieties of European Economic Law and Regulation. Studies in European Economic Law and Regulation, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04903-8_34
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