The book provides both a legal and economic assessment of an
increasingly important issue for the EU: the question of whether
individuals can hold the European Union liable for damages they suffer
due to its infringement of international economic law. However,
liability regimes vary depending on the issue concerned. In
international trade law the individual holds a weak position, being
deprived of both legal remedies to seek annulment and damages. This is
due to the constant refusal of the direct effect of WTO law. By
contrast, international investment law has been designed in an
'individualistic' manner from the outset - states agree reciprocally to
grant certain procedural and substantial individual rights, which they
invoke to claim damages before international tribunals rather than
domestic courts. The divergent role of the individual in the respective
area of international economic law leads to a different set of research
questions related to liability. In international trade law, the
doctrinal exercise of de-coupling the notion of direct effect from
liability is at the core of establishing liability. In international
investment law, liability is connected to a number of issues emerging
from the recent transfer of competence pertaining to investment issues
from Member States to the EU and the nature of investment agreements as
mixed agreements. Against this backdrop, exploring liability issues in
the area of international economic law reveals a heterogeneous set of
questions depending on the area of law concerned, thus offering
different perspectives for studying liability issues.
