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| Forskning - Avslutade avhandlingsprojekt - Spikblad |
| Fair Trading Law in Flux? | | Författare: | Antonina Bakardjieva-Engelbrekt | | Disputationsdatum: | 2003-10-24 | | Förlag: | | | Utgivningsår: | 2003 | | Omfång: | 671 sid | | Språk: | engelska | | ISBN | 91-7265-751-0 | | Abstract | This dissertation explores two distinct models for regulating fair trading in the European Union in terms of institutional choice and design. The first model is that of private ordering where Germany is the main protagonist. The predominant approach is private law oriented, decentralised and with a touch of protectionism. Confidence is vested in ordinary courts as a decision-making institution and in the initiative of private litigants (competitors, consumer and business associations). The second model is that of public ordering, most distinctly represented by Sweden. The approach is centralized, public law oriented and with a touch of paternalism. The model relies on the political process and on specialised public agencies, a Consumer Ombudsman and a Consumer Agency, to shape and enforce the standards of fair trading.
Through the examples of Germany and Sweden, the study considers the advantages and disadvantages of public and private ordering as two main avenues for enforcing fair trading law. Whereas exclusive reliance on private ordering tends to result in under-representation of diffuse consumer interests, a strong emphasis on public-law enforcement may unnecessarily constrain private initiative and pre-empt efficient enforcement. The study therefore argues for a plurality of enforcement avenues and all-sided representation and participation of affected interests.
The dissertation also explores the impact of European integration on the national institutional frameworks of fair trading. It is suggested that both the degree and the direction of influences depend on the compatibility of domestic law with European law, but also on the internally generated pressure for reform. Thus for Germany the process of adapting to European requirements has provoked substantial changes, whereas for Sweden the changes have been relatively modest. In Germany Europeanisation is slowly bringing about a re-conceptualisation of fair trading law on a consumer-oriented basis. In Sweden, conversely, the position of private entrepreneurs has been boosted and the activism of public enforcement bodies reduced. As a general observation, Europeanisation tends to challenge existing institutional symbioses and to increase the pluralism in enforcement. |
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