Download This PaperUnfair Terms in Contracts between Businesses
TOWARDS A EUROPEAN CONTRACT LAW, pp. 131-148, J. Stuyck & R. Schulze, eds., Sellier European Law Publishers, 2011
Centre for the Study of European Contract Law Working Paper Series No. 2011-07
18 Pages Posted: 24 Jun 2011 Last revised: 11 Jun 2012
Date Written: 2011
Abstract
This paper examines the main possible rationales for judicial control of unfair contract terms (unequal bargaining, distributive justice, market failure, paternalism, the ethos of the market, comparative law, and the nature of an optional instrument) and concludes that none of them requires a distinction, in this respect, between business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) contracts. Unfair terms review in B2B contracts, under the same unfairness test as in B2C, is compatible with any plausible rationale for such a review and is even required by several of them.
Keywords: Contract law, commercial law, business law, unfair terms, consumer protection, European private law, paternalism, market failure, distributive justice, unequal bargaining, optional instrument
JEL Classification: K12
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