SMEs in the (food) global value chain : a European private law perspective

Abstract

This dissertation is about the approach of EU private law towards the regulation of fair trading practices along the global value chain and about the parallel development of SMEs as a new legal status. The thesis starts from the assumption that the transformation of the global economy into global supply chains has undermined traditional private laws as historically embodying the diverse cultural traditions and socioeconomic realities of the member states. These traditions portray the socioeconomic role of small businesses in various ways. However, the conventional schemas of national private laws struggle, both in their substance and enforcement dimensions, with the destabilizing effect brought about by the global chain. At the same time, the supply chain has provided leeway for innovative forms of private regulation by means of contract. The EU uses this leeway to manage persistent national differences in B2b trading practices. By means of coregulation, the EU transforms national fair trading laws through three parallel mechanisms: the re-definition of SMEs as actors in the internal market; the establishment of new mechanisms for enforcement; the promotion of new substantive standards for trading practices.