WELCOME

Members of the CEEL/SCCL at the European Commission (2006). Jules Stuyck, Tom Van Dyck, Veerle Colaert, Maarten Peeters and Majo Werrebrouck at the workshop on "Harmonization in the financial sector" at Harvard Law School (2007).

The Centre for European Economic Law / Study Centre for Consumer Law (CEEL/SCCL) was established in 1992.

The mission of the Centre is to promote research in the field of European economic law, in particular the law of the European Community relating to the "four freedoms" (free movement of goods, persons, services and capital/payments), banking and financial services law, competition law and consumer law. European law is studied in its relationship with national law, but also the law of other Member States, in a comparative perspective.

The members of the Centre are all active in one of more of these fields. Research activities include projects for the European Commission and the national government, the organisation of workshops and conferences and the publication of books, articles and reports on subjects like merger control in the EC, antitrust law, the rules on state aid, consumer contract law, consumer dispute settlement, consumer credit, the enlargement of the EU, etc...

Recent research projects include the co-ordination of a study on alternative dispute resolution and consumer redress (in the 25 Member states as well as the U.S., Canada and Australia), as published by the European Commission on its DG Sanco website (comparative report | 28 national studies) and a critical study of the new Directive on Unfair Commercial Practices (published in CMLR, 2006, 1st issue).

Members of the CEEL/SCCL are regularly invited to participate in international conferences where papers have been presented on diverse topics such as the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the proposed Consumer Credit Directive, the Prospectus Directive, MiFID, as well as on alternative legal redress and class actions throughout the EU, or topics in the field of EC competition law. In 2006-2007 the Centre participated at, or co-hosted, conferences in Leuven, Brussels, London, Oxford, Fiesole (Florence), Vienna, Montreal and Cambridge (USA).

The CEEL/SCCL entertains many contacts with academic institutions and scholars in Belgium and abroad, i.a. by organising seminars and workshops and participating in scientific events organised by sister institutions. The Centre is regularly commissioned with research projects by the Belgian and European authorities.