Menting, Marie-Claire --- "Industry codes of conduct, the foundations of contract law and regulation: a bottom-up perspective" [2017] ELECD 1189; in Brownsword, Roger; van Gestel, A.J. Rob; Micklitz, Hans-W. (eds), "Contract and Regulation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 39

Book Title: Contract and Regulation

Editor(s): Brownsword, Roger; van Gestel, A.J. Rob; Micklitz, Hans-W.

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781784710651

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: Industry codes of conduct, the foundations of contract law and regulation: a bottom-up perspective

Author(s): Menting, Marie-Claire

Number of pages: 50

Abstract/Description:

Industry codes of conduct increasingly play a role in regulating B2B and B2C relationships and have, as such, become part of the contractual regulatory space. Nonetheless, the relationship between these codes and contract law as the traditional way of regulating private relationships still remains opaque. This chapter sheds some light on the relation between industry codes and contract law by addressing one of the questions that the regulatory role of these codes raises: is there a need for a framework for industry codes in contract law? Building on an analysis of the practice of industry codes, their interaction with the traditional foundations of contract law and a number of Dutch contract law cases involving industry codes, it is argued that contract law itself already includes leads to overcome the conceptual challenges that industry codes pose and to give further shape to the relationship between these codes and contract law. Keywords: industry codes of conduct, foundations of contract law, regulation, B2B and B2C relationships