On 15-16 December 2022 the editors of the Journal of European Consumer and
Market Law (EuCML) warmly invite all blog readers to join the online
conference celebrating 10 years of the journal! The conference will take place
on Google Meet (log-in, no password needed):
meet.google.com/xyq-vtfj-drj (Thursday 15 December)
meet.google.com/etx-ddhi-aco (Friday 16 December)
About the conference:
"EU Consumer and Market Law is an essential engine of European Integration. It
is therefore one of the key tools for facing two of the crucial challenges of
the current and next decades: Digital Revolution and Environmental
Sustainability.
The last few decades have seen consumer law elevated to being a central pillar
of European Union policy making, with the EU setting a high level of
protection for consumers in all industries and markets. This has led to the
adoption of many legislative instruments all requiring complex technical
knowledge. In addition, the Fourth industrial revolution and recent digital
developments have again opened the floodgate for new regulatory initiatives
tackling critical issues such as sustainability, global electronic commerce
and the liability of digital market actors.
Meanwhile, the common European rules regulating different areas of consumer
law, such as the unfair commercial practices, unfair contract terms, consumer
sales or dispute resolution continue to evolve and remain of utmost importance
for both online and offline transactions and market interactions. The
harmonisation of consumer laws has in principle raised the level of protection
of consumers in the internal market as businesses offers goods, services and
digital content across borders within and outside of the European Union.
However, the application of consumer law is as difficult as it has always
been, prompting the need for yet further reforms.
The Journal of European Consumer and Market Law (EuCML) offers an
up-to-date and critical analysis of all new developments and revisits old ones
to pre-empt market needs and suggest viable solutions. In particular,
EuCML offers a fresh perspective on consumer law that goes beyond the
traditional understanding of consumer law as consumer protection law. It
understands consumer protection from a market perspective, taking into
account the requirements and realities of doing business in B2B and B2C
markets.
The EuCML welcomes analysis that encompasses work aimed at protecting consumer
stricto sensu but also as users of services, passengers, insurance policy
holders etc.
EuCML also offers a forum to discuss the black letter law implications
of the latest Member States’ Courts and CJEU interpretation but also
sustainability concerns, the effects of the pandemic of Covid-19, data
commercialisation, issues of power in markets or even social aspects.
EuCML is available in paper as well as online on HeinOnline, Kluwerlawonline
and Beck-online.
The EuCML is focused on bringing scholarship and the sharpest thinking on the
issues that matter to the consumer and the market of the 21st century."
The conference programme is as follows:
THURSDAY 15 DECEMBER 2022, 09:00 - 17:30 (CET)
9:00 I. OVERARCHING CHALLENGES IN EU CONSUMER AND MARKET LAW
Introduction: Alberto De Franceschi (University of Ferrara)
Chair: Christoph Busch (University of Osnabrück)
Wish or reality: reconciling consumers’ needs and traders’ goals
Verica Trstenjak (former Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union)
Protection of weaker parties in smart contracts
Andrea Stazi (European University of Rome and National University of Singapore)
Market Citizenship: Fostering the Green Transition through European Private Law
Francesca Bertelli (University of Brescia)
10:00 Discussion
10:20 Coffee Break
10:35 II. THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE INFORMATION MODEL: PRECONTRACTUAL INFORMATION DUTIES AND DISCLOSURES
Chair: Joasia Luzak (University of Exeter)
The Disclosure Dream – Towards a New Transparency Concept in EU Consumer Law
Rolf H. Weber (University of Zurich)
Adequacy and Effectiveness of Precontractual Information Duties in Car Flexible Finance Agreements
Michele Ciancimino (LUMSA University of Palermo)
Ex officio enforcement of the Consumer Rights Directive: The Dutch Perspective
Charlotte Pavillon (University of Groningen) and Leonieke Tigelaar (University of Groningen)
11:35 Discussion
11:55 Coffee Break
12:10 III. UNFAIR TERMS IN CONSUMER CONTRACTS
Chair: Kristin Nemeth (University of Innsbruck)
Effective consumer protection in times of global challenges and the role of
corrective remedies: from punitive nullity to contract renegotiation
Paola Iamiceli (University of Trento)
The Court of Justice on Unfair Terms and Supplementation of the Contract:
How Far Is Too Far?
Riccardo Serafin (University of Turin)
12:50 Discussion
13:10 Lunch Break
14:00 IV. UNFAIR TERMS IN CONSUMER CONTRACTS
Chair: Vanessa Mak (University of Leiden)
Unfair contractual terms and consequences for B2C agreements
Chiara Sartoris (University of Florence)
Unfair terms of consumer contracts in the enforcement proceedings from the
Greek perspective
Evangelia (Elina) Asimakopoulou (Neapolis University Pafos Cyprus and
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)
14:40 Discussion
15:00 Coffee Break
15:15 V. VOLKSWAGEN CASE AND THE EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN CONSUMER AND MARKET
PROTECTION
Chair: Alberto De Franceschi (University of Ferrara)
Manipulated software as a minor lack of conformity? The CJEU Case Law
Rita Simon (Czech Academy of Sciences)
Volkswagen Case and Termination of Contract: The Spanish experience
Carlos Villacorta Salís (Madrid Law Firm)
15:55 Discussion
16:15 Coffee Break
16:30 VI. PRODUCT LIABILITY AND CONSUMER LAW
Chair: Geraint Howells (National University of Ireland, Galway)
The Last Decade of Product Liability Case Law: How the CJEU Shaped the
Proposal for a New Directive
Edoardo Ruzzi (University of Roma Tre)
A tale of two cities? Fennia v Philips and Article 7 of the Product
Liability Directive Update
Francesca Gennari (University of Bologna)
17:10 Discussion
17:30 Interim Conclusions
FRIDAY 16 DECEMBER 2022, 08:30 - 17:30 (CET)
08:30 VII. CONSUMER AND MARKET PROTECTION IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Chair: Mateja Durovic (King’s College London)
Profiling Consumer by Big Data: The Interplay Between the GDPR and the
UCPD
Maja Nisevic (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)
European Regulation of Dark Patterns before and after the DSA
Alexander Egberts (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective
Goods, Bonn)
Consumer Protection Between Persuasion and Manipulation
Ludovica Sposini (Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa)
Reputational systems between market needs and consumer protection
Annarita Ricci (University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara)
09:50 Discussion
10:10 Coffee Break
10:25 VIII. CONSUMER AND MARKET PROTECTION IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Chair: Mateusz Grochowski (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and
International Private Law)
Locating Online Platforms in the Right Place: Between the Digital Services
Act and the Liability Law
Cemre Polat (Ankara Medipol University) and Ş. Barış Özçelik (Bilkent
University)
Coty v Amazon: Could Lessons be Taken for the Liability of Platforms for
Defective Products?
Gökçe Kurtulan Güner (Istanbul Bilgi University)
11:05 Discussion
11:25 Coffee Break
11:40 IX. NATIONAL REPORTS
Chair: Jorge Morais Carvalho (NOVA University, Lisbon)
The jurisprudential conflict on the application of consumer law in
Slovenia: consumer law as a sword or a shield?
Petra Weingerl (University of Maribor)
Ten Years of Enforcement of Croatian Consumer Law
Emilia Mišćenić (University of Rijeka)
12:20 Discussion
12:40 Lunch Break
14:00 X. COMPETITION LAW IN CONSUMER MATTERS AND THE CHALLENGE OF ENERGY
MARKETS
Chair: Rupprecht Podszun (University of Düsseldorf)
Big Data and the Interplay between Competition Law, Data Protection and
Consumer Law: Perspectives from the Italian Experience
Cristina Poncibò (University of Turin)
The Protection of Market and Consumers Damaged by Infringements of
Competition Law in a Recent Italian Supreme Court Judgment: a Problem of
Effectiveness
Silvia Romanò (University of Rome Tor Vergata)
Price Adjustment Clauses in Electricity Supply Consumer Agreements:
Breaching the Thermopylae “Hotgates” of Transparency or just a legitimate
“Trojan Horse” for the recovery of the production cost?
Evangelos Margaritis (University of the Aegean)
15:00 Discussion
15:20 Coffee Break
15:35 XI. PUBLIC ENFORCEMENT AND PROCEDURAL ISSUES IN CONSUMER PROTECTION
Chair: Evelyne Terryn (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)
Administrative enforcement of consumer law rules: the role of the Italian
Consumer and Market Authority on digital platforms
Federica Casarosa (European University Institute, Florence)
Collective consumer redress through debt collection services in Germany –
A critical analysis of a rare case of ‘coding’ in civil law
countries
David Markworth (University of Cologne, Germany)
Influencing the EU Consumer and Market Law? The Office of Competition and
Consumer Protection in Poland and Influencer Marketing
Monika Namysłowska (University of Lodz) and Karolina Sztobryn
(University of Lodz)
16:35 Discussion
16:55 Coffee Break
17:10 XII. PUBLIC ENFORCEMENT AND PROCEDURAL ISSUES IN CONSUMER PROTECTION
Chair: Alberto De Franceschi (University of Ferrara)
The importance of Redemption in EU Civil Procedural Consumer Law
Ioannis Revolidis (University of Malta)
The enforcement of consumer financial protection rules
Catalin-Gabriel Stanescu (University of Copenhagen)
17:50 Discussion
18:10 Conclusions
