5 March 2010: Roundtable Conference on National Resistance against Europeanisation of Private Law

On 5 March 2010 the Tilburg Institute of Comparative and Transnational Law (TICOM) organized a Roundtable Conference on Harmonisation and Diversity in European Contract Law - Perspectives from Economics and Psychology. The event, by invitation only, is a part of the HiiL-funded research project 'National Resistance against the Europeanisation of Private Law'.

European contract law has been in a state of flux for the past decade. Two major issues are at the crux of the political and academic debate. First, whether there is a need to harmonize the contract laws of Member States. Second, how to coordinate the multiplicity of actors regulating this area. Resolution of these issues potentially impacts both form and substance of European contract law. This roundtable invites a re-evaluation of the two issues by asking how firms and consumers are affected by changes in the law. The roundtable was organized thematically, with the morning session offering papers on legal harmonisation, and the afternoon session on regulatory competition. Speakers* may include insights from economics or psychology in their papers. A roundtable discussion followed each presentation. The proceedings of this conference will be published in an edited volume.