Volume 20, Issue 1

The recently adopted Consumer Credit Directive incorporates new forms of credit and uses classic consumer protection instruments as well as introducing measures that increase control over lenders with the aim of preventing over-indebtedness. In general, more burdens are imposed on lenders and certain commercial practices are banned or restricted in all Member States. Moreover, the Directive is characterised by the fact that it includes consumer data protection and specifies a consumers’ right not to be discriminated against, which may have some overlap with the General Data Protection Regulation and the on-going development of EU artificial intelligence legislation.

Sustainability standards are integrated and applied in global supply chains through transnational commercial contracts that have come to play a regulatory function in addition to the conventional exchange task. The design of the architecture of contracting, the coordination among contracts, and the content of sustainability terms along the chain is the result of the cooperation of different actors, led by one or more transnational corporations. The paper describes the distribution of private regulatory power according to the structures of the chains- hierarchical, relational, market -and its impact on the compliance with sustainability standards. It considers the qualification system that regulates entry, exit, and permanence in the chain and the Suppliers codes and General principles of sustainability specified in the general terms and conditions. These represent complementary direct and indirect private regulatory instruments that can be deployed to ensure compliance. The choice of instruments depends on the distribution of regulatory power among the private actors and their exercise. Privity of contract makes it often difficult if not impossible direct regulation by the chain leader and obliges decentralization of regulatory power. The analysis shows that only the complementarity between the two sets of instruments enables control of compliance in complex chains whose actors operate across different jurisdictions with the use of sanctioning and remedial powers. The article analyzes how26 principles of effectiveness, proportionality and dissuasiveness may contribute to a fair and non discriminatory exercise of private regulatory power related to the implementation of sustainability standards through contracts.

This article examines whether, and if so to what extent, a lender can engage in the algorithmic personalised pricing of consumer credit products (PP) under the Unfair Contract Terms Directive (UCTD) and the Consumer Credit Directive (CCD). To this end, the author first analyses the economic literature to discuss the mechanics of PP and the economic impacts on different consumer groups. This overview is followed by an examination of the UCTD and the CCD, in the broader context of EU regulatory law, as these Directives apply to the practice and the contractual terms. Subsequently, the author applies the considerations of the European Court of Justice (CJEU) in the jurisprudence regarding price terms in credit and mortgage agreements to personalised price terms. Finally, the author concludes that the Directives indeed limit the extent to which a lender can engage in PP, but that the frameworks in the broader EU regulatory context would be better suited than the Directives to address the negative economic impacts of the practice.

Under the Public Sector Directive, public buyers are allowed to include sustainability considerations in their purchasing decisions within the limits of the principles of procurement. This framework allows criteria linked to the subject matter to be contractualised. Though different criteria are widely employed in public procurement within the umbrella of sustainable public procurement, the literature mostly focuses on stages leading to the contract award instead of considering the public contract as a document incorporating contractual obligations. On the other side, green and social commitments in (business) contracts are considerations that are not necessarily linked to the subject matter. Though their value is acknowledged, their enforcement proves to be challenging due to the restraints of contract law. By using European contract law as a reference point, this paper compares sustainability clauses in business contracts to sustainability clauses in public contracts – to determine whether the EU regime applicable to public contracts offers solutions to these hurdles.

This article provides an overview of the most relevant cases decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning contract law. The present issue covers the period between the beginning of July 2023 and the end of December 2023. Out of a total of 220 judgments decided in this period, 57 had a contract law dimension.