Credit rating agency liability in EuropePhD student: Mrs D.J. Verheij
Promotors: Prof M.N. Haentjens, A.G. Castermans
Duration: 1/9/2015 - 31/8/2019
PhD defence: Leiden, 28/1/2021
Abstract:
In response to the financial crisis, the European legislature developed rules addressing the parties that were considered responsible for the crisis. Some of these rules aim to introduce a single non-contractual liability regime for financial institutions. This development is ground-breaking, because non-contractual liability has never before been unified at the European level. Moreover, it entails the Europeanisation of core domestic doctrines, representing a change in the balance of power between the EU and the Member States. The most prominent example of a European tort ground can be found in article 35a of the Regulation on credit rating agencies (CRA III), which will be the focus of this research. European tort grounds like article 35a CRA III are clouded by many questions and uncertainties caused, inter alia, by the fact that whereas European tort grounds have now been introduced, general tort law has not been harmonised. This research will investigate the relationship between the European rules on non-contractual liability for financial institutions and the national laws of the Member States. To that end, the research will bring together private international law, tort law, regulatory law and European law. An in-depth analysis of how European tort grounds will function within the national legal systems of, in particular, the Netherlands, England, France and Germany will be made, to be able to conclude whether these grounds will achieve their goals, i.e. whether they will provide effective investor protection and thus contribute to the stability of the European financial markets. Additionally, this research will create a normative framework to draw conclusions regarding the questions whether a single European tort law for the financial sector should be achieved or whether other types of financial regulation would be more fruitful.
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