ICLS Themes and Projects.

Take part in a current project.

Testing the uniformity of the profession of commercial agents in France, Germany and the UK

Dr Séverine Saintier is starting a new empirical research on the profession of commercial agents. It is now 25 years since Directive 83/653 was enacted. Although the Directive has helped reinforced the protection of commercial agents across EU Member States, it is not clear whether the laws of the various Member States are truly harmonised or whether the underlying objective of the EU text, to facilitate trade, has been met. The main aim of this research is therefore to test whether the freedom left within Directive 86/653 has allowed France, Germany and the UK to implement the Directive so as to answer the commercial needs of the profession of commercial agents. This study is important in order to see whether commercial agents share common characteristics as a profession across Member States and therefore whether one text (the Directive 86/653) can be applied uniformly to all of them or whether they operate in different markets with differing commercial needs from one Member State to the next (and even within a Member State).

For details of the questionnaire for the UK, click on the following link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/W9G3HLT.

Other Themes and Projects.

The Institute is interested in all aspects of research into commercial law, including doctrinal, applied, socio-legal and empirical. "Commercial Law" is defined broadly for our purposes, to include most, if not all, aspects of the law relating to commercial and business activity. The work of the Institute and its members therefore encompasses not only what might be termed "traditional" commercial law, including the law of domestic and international sales, agency and commercial and consumer credit, and subjects such as company, competition, consumer protection, contract and corporate finance law, but also such areas as, commercial property law, EC law, employment and labour law, environmental law, information technology law, insolvency law, insurance law, intellectual property law, revenue law and telecommunications law. Past research themes within the Institute have included distant selling, consumer protection (including aspects of consumer credit, product liability and unfair contract terms), termination of contracts, welfarism in contract and broadcasting and telecommunications regulation.

The work of the Institute is not confined to domestic commercial law. In an increasingly globalised world, trade is increasingly international in nature, with both commercial and consumer transactions being carried on across borders. Much of the work of the Institute members therefore has an international and/or comparative aspect.

An emerging theme in the Institute's work is the legal treatment of small businesses. It is increasingly being recognized that the needs of small business differ from those of bigger businesses and that in many ways small businesses behave more like consumers. The treatment of small businesses is reflected in many aspects of the Institute's work, including Saintier's work on commercial agency, and DeLacy's work on company law reform.