Public Supervision over Private Relationships: Towards European Supervision Private Law?

The rise of public supervision over private relationships in many areas of private law has led to the development of what, in the author's view, could be called 'European supervision private law'. This emerging body of law forms part of European regulatory private law and is made up of contract-related conduct of business rules that arc cast as public supervision standards and are enforced try public authorities through administrative law means. The development of European supervision private law puts under pressure the leading role of private law' and civil courts in setting standards of behaviour in private relationships and raises many important issues concerning the future of European private law, in particular, contract law. This article explores the origins and main characteristics of European supervision private law, with emphasis oil the financial services field. It also underlines the need for conceptualizing the relationship between European supervision private law and traditional private law' using the contract governance approach.