New International Perspectives in Standard Terms Legislation, an Introduction

The European Commission is preparing a fitness check of existing European legislation. The Unfair Contract Terms Directive is one of the directives that are being looked into. In this paper, which contains the introduction to a book on new international perspectives in standard terms legislation, I discuss the existing Directive and the most important decisions of the Court of Justice and list some of the subjects that could be taken up by the European legislator when amending the Directive. The paper starts with a brief discussion as to whether European fundamental rights legislation actually allows for consumer protection against unfair terms. It ends with a brief introduction of the other papers in the book