Tort Law of the European Community

692 Pages·2008·3.319 MB·English

by  Denis N. Kelliher (auth.), Helmut Koziol, Reiner Schulze (eds.)

W
Tort and Insurance Law
Vol. 23
Edited by the
Research Unit for European Tort Law
of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
together with the
European Centre of Tort
and Insurance Law
Helmut Koziol
Reiner Schulze (eds.)
Tort Law of the European Community
With Contributions by
Luisa Antoniolli Christoph Oertel
Bjarte Askeland Ken Oliphant
Isabelle C. Durant André Pereira
Josep Solé Feliu Robert Rebhahn
Monika Hinteregger W.V.H. Rogers
Geraint Howells Reiner Schulze
Thomas Kadner Graziano Luboš Tichý
Denis N. Kelliher Stefano Troiano
Markus Kellner Vibe Ulfbeck
Bernhard A. Koch Antoni Vaquer
Helmut Koziol Martin Weitenberg
Meinhard Lukas Pierre Widmer
Ulrich Magnus Mark Wissink
Miquel Martín-Casals
SpringerWienNewYork
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Research Unit for European Tort Law
Reichsratsstraße 17/2
1080 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-Mail: [email protected]
European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law
Reichsratsstraße 17/2
1010 Vienna, Austria
Tel.: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E-Mail: [email protected]
This work is published with the financial support of the
“Jubiläumsfonds” of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB)
(The central bank of the Republic of Austria)
Project no. 10575
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P
REFACE
The Europeanization of private law is always in progress. While its political di-
mension has – following the European Commission’s “Action Plan” from 2003
(Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the
Council “A More Coherent European Contract Law – An Action Plan”, COM
(2003) final) – hitherto mainly focused on contract law, groups of researchers
have – in line with the postulation in the European Parliament resolution on the
approximation of the civil and commercial law of the Member States, COM
(2001) 398 – started “to find common legal concepts and solutions” also for
“the law governing non-contractual obligations (tort, law of restitution)”. The
European Group on Tort Law presented its Principles of European Tort Law
(PETL) with commentaries in 2005 (European Group on Tort Law, Principles
of European Tort Law, Text and Commentary, Vienna 2005; see also www.egtl.
org). The publication of the commented principles on Non-contractual Liabil-
ity Arising out of Damage Caused to Another (PEL Liab.Dam.) by the Study
Group on a European Civil Code is expected in the near future (for the final
text of the uncommented PEL Liab.Dam. see www.sgecc.net). These projects
are, without a doubt, important steps towards a comprehensive body of Euro-
pean tort law which the volume at hand aims to complement by a change of
perspective to the actual status quo of existing tort law at Community (and
international) level.
The basic idea of the present project was to analyse whether consistent con-
cepts of tort law can be found in European Community law and, if so, to what
extent. The present acquis communautaire is composed of a variety of different
individual directives, regulations and judgments which originate from diverse
fields of politics and often serve disparate purposes and solve similar problems
in different ways. Since its existence, the European Union has created a sub-
stantial number of individual laws in the field of tort law. General rules and the
comprehensive harmonisation of this field of law, however, are still missing.
This volume aims to stimulate discussion as to whether this deficit can be over-
come with the support of academic research and whether the experiences from
the Member States as well as from comparative research over the last decades
may be fruitful for the further development of Community law.
The key elements of tort liability – damage, causation and fault – but also
terminological questions in Community law are therefore analysed in the first
chapters (1–14) of this book. Together with the “Overview” (chapter 15) this
VI Preface
first part of the volume examines whether any attempts have been made to-
wards the creation of a comprehensive and coherent system of EC tort law.
The following chapters (16–22) contain reports from the various European
legal families as well as a comparative report on the implications of Com-
munity law on the domestic systems of tort law and a comparative analysis of
tort law at both the Community and national level. Against this background,
the “Conclusion” concentrates on the issue of consistency of the individual
provisions and case law on tort liability in Community law and the need for its
further development.
The project was conducted by the Research Unit for European Tort Law
of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Vienna, Austria) and by the Centre of
European Private Law of the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
(Münster, Germany) and financed by the “Jubiläumsfonds” of the Austrian
National Bank. We owe profound thanks to the following for their assistance
during the project: Philipp Fuchs, Kirstin Grüblinger, Denis Kelliher, Marlene
Steininger, Donna Stockenhuber, Nora Wallner, Agnes Weiß and Vanessa Wil-
cox (Vienna), Martin Weitenberg and Jonathon Watson (Münster). We would
also like to thank Springer publishers for their support in the publication of
this volume.
We sincerely hope that this book will contribute to and intensify the debate
on the further development of European private law and particularly of Com-
munity law in the area of torts. We would therefore like to invite all readers to
actively participate in this discussion.
Helmut Koziol (Vienna) and Reiner Schulze (Münster)
T C
ABLE OF ONTENTS
Aims and Scope
(Denis N. Kelliher) ...........................................................................................1
I. Introduction ........................................................................................1
II. European Rights .................................................................................1
III. Treaty Liabilities ................................................................................3
IV. Secondary Law Liabilities ..................................................................8
V. Borders between Tort and Contract ..................................................18
VI. Conclusion .......................................................................................22
Damage
(Antoni Vaquer) ..............................................................................................23
I. Introduction ......................................................................................23
II. Definition of Damage .......................................................................23
III. Essential Criteria for Compensation of Damage .............................26
IV. Different Types of Damage ..............................................................31
V. Proof of Damage ..............................................................................43
Causation
(Isabelle C. Durant) .......................................................................................47
I. Introduction ......................................................................................47
II. European Legislation ........................................................................47
III. European Case Law ..........................................................................51
Fault Liability
(Meinhard Lukas) ...........................................................................................81
I. Preliminary Remarks ........................................................................81
II. Reference to Fault in Regulations and Directives ............................83
III. Reference to Fault in Primary Legislation .......................................99
IV. Conclusion ......................................................................................101
Environmental Liability
(Monika Hinteregger) ..................................................................................103
I. Introduction ....................................................................................103
II. International Conventions ..............................................................103
III. EC-Directive 2004/35/CE on Environmental Liability with
Regard to the Prevention and Remedying of Environmental
Damage ...........................................................................................105
IV. Conclusions ....................................................................................117
VIII Table of Contents
Is European Product Liability Harmonised?
(Geraint Howells) ........................................................................................121
I. Introduction ....................................................................................121
II. Maximal Harmonisation .................................................................122
III. The Degree of Harmonisation ........................................................125
IV. Defect and Development Risks ......................................................129
V. Conclusions ....................................................................................133
Other Strict Liabilities
(Bernhard A. Koch) ......................................................................................135
I. Introduction ....................................................................................135
II. Nuclear Energy ...............................................................................135
III. Air Carriage ....................................................................................140
IV. Outer Space ....................................................................................148
V. Maritime Transport .........................................................................150
VI. Other Transport ..............................................................................155
VII. Services and Other Areas ...............................................................159
VIII. Conclusions ....................................................................................162
Liability for Others
(Miquel Martín-Casals/Josep Solé Feliu ) ...................................................165
I. What does “Liability for Others” mean? ........................................165
II. Liability of the European Community ...........................................169
III. Liability for Others in Contract ......................................................175
Non-contractual Liability in Damages of Member States
for Breach of Community Law
(Robert Rebhahn) .........................................................................................179
I. Introduction ....................................................................................179
II. The Main Substantive Conditions ..................................................188
III. Other Substantive Conditions and Defences ..................................204
IV. Final Remarks ................................................................................210
Community Liability
(Luisa Antoniolli ) ........................................................................................213
I. Introduction ....................................................................................213
II. The Rules of the Treaties ................................................................214
III. Exclusive and Unlimited Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice
and the Court of First Instance .......................................................215
IV. Autonomy of the Action for Damages ...........................................217
V. Article 288(2) EC and General Principles Common to the
Laws of the Member States ...........................................................218
VI. Admissibility of an Action for Damages ........................................220
VII. Conditions for Liability ..................................................................225
VIII. Damages .........................................................................................236
IX. A Critical Evaluation of the Action for Damages in EC Law .......238
Table of Contents IX
The Nature and Assessment of Damages
(Ken Oliphant) .............................................................................................241
I. Damages in EC Tort Law in General .............................................241
II. Material Damage ............................................................................256
III. Non-Material Damage ....................................................................264
IV. Reduction of Damages ...................................................................270
V. Conclusion ......................................................................................271
Limitations of Liability under EC Tort Law
(Ulrich Magnus) ...........................................................................................273
I. Introduction ....................................................................................273
II. Justification of Limitations of Liability .........................................274
III. State of EC law Concerning Limitations of Liability.....................274
IV. Prescription .....................................................................................275
V. Maximum Amounts and Thresholds ..............................................279
VI. Channeling of Liability .................................................................282
VII. Limitation of Liability by Agreement ............................................285
VIII. Defences .........................................................................................286
IX. Conclusions ....................................................................................292
Limitation Periods in EC Law
(André Pereira) ............................................................................................293
I. Introduction ....................................................................................293
II. Non-Contractual Liability ..............................................................293
III. Case Law ........................................................................................298
IV. Contractual Liability ......................................................................304
V. General Comparison .......................................................................306
VI. Conclusions ....................................................................................307
Terminology
(Martin Weitenberg) .....................................................................................309
I. Need for a Uniform Terminology in EC Tort Law .........................309
II. Research Methodology ..................................................................311
III. Assessment of Damages .................................................................312
IV. “Damage”, “Harm”, “Loss” and “Injury” ......................................325
V. Conduct of the Tortfeasor ...............................................................331
VI. Causation .......................................................................................335
Overview
(Mark Wissink) .............................................................................................341
I. Introduction ....................................................................................341
II. General Remarks ............................................................................342
III. Types of Liability ...........................................................................348
IV. Causation ........................................................................................354
V. Damage ...........................................................................................355
VI. Damages and Other Remedies .......................................................358
VII. Limitation of Liability and Defences .............................................361