Full harmonisation through Directive 2005/29/EC and German law on unfair commercial practices

One of the fundamental elements of the European Union is undoubtedly the expectation that a strong and well-functioning European single market will bring economic benefits for all involved. A basic paradigm in this context is the assumption that uniform law can help to achieve the aforementioned goal. The so-called ‘UCP Directive’ aims to achieve greater legal harmonisation in the regulation of unfair commercial practices. In addition to stimulating the European internal market, the Directive also aims to achieve a high level of consumer protection. The regulatory requirements of the Directive apply exclusively to legal cases involving business-to-consumer relations. Member States are obliged to implement the directives of the European Commission. In order to achieve a high degree of legal harmonisation, the UGP Directive was designed by the Commission to be fully harmonised. This paper focuses on the challenges of transposing the directive into national law, with particular emphasis on German law.