November 5th I had the great honor to present a new paper to my colleagues in Leuven. The paper (co-authored with my Tilburg colleague Katarzyna Kryla-Cudna) concerns the extra-contractual liability of the European Union for the failure to adjudicate within a reasonable time, as addressed in the cases of Gascogne, Kendrion and ASPLA (December 2018). The non-contractual liability for damages caused by judicial decisions is one of the most disputed domains of tort law. EU
29 March I had the honour of giving a lecture at the University of Trento, Italy. I met a very enthusiastic crowd of students, who came well prepared to the talk and eager to engage in fundamental questions around the concept of tort law and the role of the European Union in its development. The lecture was part of the course on Foundations of Private Law from an EU perspective within the programme of CEILS
On 10 October, the French Supreme Court ruled that the Court of Appeal in Aix-en-Provence had not sufficiently addressed the arguments of plaintiffs in the damages claim they have brought against TÜV Rheinland in relation to the defective PIP breast implants. It is another step in the complex litigation involving the illegal use of substandard silicone gel for the manufacturing of breast implants by the French company PIP. See for comments on the decision from
I have had the pleasure of being an Academic Visitor at the Institute of European and Comparative Law from August to November 2018. My research stay was devoted to the project ‘The constitutionalization of private regulation’, a comparative research project in which I undertake to assess the conditions that govern the civil liability of private regulatory bodies. Funding is provided by the VENI Innovational Incentive Research scheme of the Netherlands Scientific Organisation (NWO). Read my short
Onderzoek door gedragswetenschappers heeft de laatste twee decennia tot vernieuwende inzichten geleid in het doorgronden van gedrag van bedrijven en consumenten. Deze inzichten lijken daarmee zeer relevant voor een effectieve vormgeving, implementatie en handhaving van het consumentenrecht. Het nieuwste nummer van het Tijdschrift voor consumentenrecht en handelspraktijken (TvC) omvat bijdragen die de vraag stellen of en hoe gedragsinzichten een plaats hebben in ons huidige consumentenrecht. Experts op uiteenlopende delen van het consumentenrecht lichten toe in hoeverre concepten als ‘bounded rationality’, ‘heuristics’ en ‘anchoring’ in
The highest German court in civil matters, the Bundesgerichtshof, has denied a damages claim brought by a woman who received PIP breast implants against the certification body that was involved in the inspection of PIP production facilities TÜV Rheinland. This final judgment comes after the European Court of Justice of the EU had offered guidance to the Bundesgerichtshof as regards the scope of the inspection obligations TÜV Rheinland had under the applicable EU rules. For now,
PIP Case on the Cause List on June 22nd The German Bundesgerichtshof announced on March 29th that the hearings in the case between Schmitt and TÜV Rheinland will be held on June 22nd. These hearing are planned after the Court of Justice of the European Union answered the questions raised by the German court through a preliminary reference procedure (Case C-219/15) in its decision of February 16th. Read the press release of the Bundesgerichtshof Read the decision
General Court too slow in delivering judgements On January 10th, the General Court gave its first-ever damages award in the Gascogne case (T-577/14) for delayed proceedings within its own chambers. This decision was appealed by both the defendant (the EU) and the plaintiff (Gascogne). In the meantime, the Gascogne decision was confirmed by the Court’s rulings in Kendrion v. European Union (T-479/14 of 1 February 2017) and ASPLA v. European Union (T-40/15 of 17 February 2017). In