Fair Trading in EC Law: Information and Consumer Choice in the Internal Market

Author: Dr. Malek Radeideh, February 2005, 339p. Binding: hardback. ISBN: 978-90-76871-40-0. Price: €72, $124. Language: English.

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About the book

Fair trading, that is to say the idea of a fair market-behavioural standard in the pre-contractual relationship between business and consumers, has played a fundamental role in EC law since the very beginning of the Community. After early attempts at horizontal harmonisation failed, a piecemeal legislative approach was adopted, and has resulted in an inharmonious coexistence of numerous sectoral Community measures concerning fair trading. At the same time, the European Court of Justice has developed in its case law a general concept of fair trading on the basis of the EC Treaty provisions on free movement.
The author provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of primary law as interpreted by the European Court of Justice in its relevant case law and of Community legislation pertaining to fair trading. He demonstrates that the countless specific fair trading rules are based on a common general concept of fair trading. The author thus unveils a principle of fair trading in the acquis communautaire, which he defines not only in content but also in scope, proving it to be a general principle of Internal Market law. The interrelationship between fair trading and the functioning of the Internal Market is one of the central themes of the book, which, unlike other fair trading related analyses, attaches particular weight to the role of primary law.

Finally, in the light of the previous findings a stand is taken on the current initiative to adopt a directive on unfair commercial practices, which is the latest manifestation of the recurring idea of horizontal harmonisation in this field.

About the author

Dr. Malek Radeideh (1973) studied law at Universität Bielefeld, Université Robert Schuman Strasbourg and Freie Universität Berlin. He obtained his German law degree in 2000. From 2001 to 2004 he worked as a researcher at the Department of European and Economic Law at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. In his research he focussed on EC fair trading law, which he understands as a synthesis of European consumer law, European private law, and, above all, Internal Market law. He has participated in various legal studies for the European Commission and has published in his field of research. In 2004 he returned to Berlin in order to work in legal practice.

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Review

Norbert Reich in CMLRev. 2005, p. 1218-1219: "the author has greatly contributed to the development of a genuine Community concept of fair trading. The work is well documented, his analysis of the case law of the ECJ offers many new insights into legal doctrine and argument, and the abounding comparative literature is excellently researched. His work will survive short term legislation and discussion because it points to the very fundamental requirements of a functioning internal market."