Conference on Private law and market regulation
On 2 December 2016, the Coherent Private Law research group organised an international research conference under the title “Private law and market regulation – interaction, interference or inconsistency?”. The central theme of the conference was the juxtaposition of private law doctrines and public regulatory goals.
Alexander Hellgardt (Senior research fellow at the Max Planck Institute Munich) and Michael Faure (Professor of law and economics, Maastricht & Rotterdam) delivered keynote speeches. Hellgardt explored the regulatory toolbox and private law as a tool within that toolbox. Faure explored the role of private law litigation as a counterweight for failing risk regulation.
The call for papers for this conference was highly successful. The selected papers each took a particular perspective on the conference subject. George Zhou (Leeds) presented a paper on justifications for regulatory intervention in contracts and the optimal tool choice. Peter van Wijck (Leiden) went on to demonstrate the deterrent effect of combined use of administrative fines and private damages actions in competition law infringements.
Erdem Büyüksagis (Antalya/Fribourg) presented a paper on the effect of compliance with mandatory regulation on products liability. Dörte Poelzig (Passau) analysed the necessary coordination between private and public law enforcement in European law. Finally, Candida Leone (Amsterdam) discussed the tension between regulatory goals and private law doctrines in the European Directive on unfair contract terms.
The lively discussion that followed with each of the presentations showed that the conference theme was at the heart of the Coherent Private Law research programme.