Ambtshalve toepassing van EU-recht

PhD ceremony: Mr. A.G.F. Ancery, 16.15 uur, Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: Ambtshalve toepassing van EU-recht

Promotor(s): prof. H.B. Krans, prof. M.H. Wissink

Faculty: Law

Private law is increasingly influenced by international law, in particular by EU law. EU law prohibits, for example, the use of a cartel and awards consumers a special form of protection, for example against the use of unfair terms in consumer contracts or against door-to-door selling. It is in principle for national law to decide whether rules of EU law are applied in a national civil proceeding. It is therefore possible that a limitation period or the fact that parties have not supplied the court with enough facts to apply the legal ground of EU law lead to the conclusion that a rule of EU cannot be applied. That is the result of the principle of national procedural autonomy. A national rule that restricts the applicability of EU law needs to be examined. After all, if such rules are not tested, EU Member States could, by adopting restrictive rules, limit the effectiveness of EU law in too large a manner. A national civil procedure needs to awards the parties an effective remedy in court. That is the first test. All national rules need to meet the demands of the principles of effectiveness and equality. That is the second test. In his dissertation Alain Ancery examines whether rules of national law on the ambit of the dispute meet the demands of those two tests. His conclusion is that not all rules meet these demands.