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7 ERCL 1 (2011)

handle is hein.journals/ercl7 and id is 1 raw text is: Articles Why Withdrawal Rights? HORST EIDENMOLLER* Abstract: Almost every legal system accepts the fundamental principle that promises must be kept ('pacta sunt servanda'). Yet, a consumer's right to withdraw from a contract for the purchase of goods or services ('withdrawal right') figures prominently in European consumer law directives, in the ACQP and in the DCFR. Withdrawal rights imply a significant weak- ening of the fundamental principle pacta sunt servanda. However, the popular invocation of withdrawal rights is not rooted in a thorough analysis of the purposes such rights might fulfill. This article attempts to provide such an analysis by posing the central normative question: 'Why Withdrawal Rights?'. It uses the tools of (behavioral) economics to identify three situa- tional categories in which granting a withdrawal right may be justified: information asym- metries at the time of contract formation, exogenous distortions of the consumer's preferences and endogenous distortions. The article also seeks to assess the effectiveness of withdrawal rights in achieving their stated objectives. It contains specific policy recommendations with respect to the mode in which withdrawal rights should be granted, if they are granted at all (i.e. mandatory versus optional, etc.). Resum: La force obligatoire du contrat figure parmi les principes fondamentaux de presque tons les ordres juridiques. Pourtant, les droits de retractation sont un des instruments essentiels des directives europeennes concernant la protection des consommateurs, et ils ont aussi un role important dans les Principes acquis (ACQP) ainsi que dans le projet de Cadre commun de reference (PCCR). De tels droits impliquent une atteinte signifiante du principe fondamental 'pacta sunt servanda'. La popularit des droits de retractation ne se fonde pas sur une analyse a fond des objectifs que de tels droits pourraient poursuivre. Cet article entreprend de presenter une telle analyse en posant la question normative fondamentale: 'Pourquoi des droits de retractation?'. En appliquant des conceptions de l'&conomie comportementale, trois situations sont identifiees dans lesquelles un droit de retractation pourrait etre justifie: Une asymetrie d'information lors de la conclusion d'un contrat, des perturbations des preferences exogenes du consommateur et des perturbations des preferences endogenes. L'article vise aussi a appre- cier l'efficacite des droits de retractation quant a l'accomplissement de leurs buts. Il contient des propositions specifiques concernant le mode dans lequel un droit de retractation, s'il y a lieu, devrait etre accord (par droit imperatif, en forme d'option etc.). Kurzfassung: In nahezu allen Rechtsordnungen gehort es zu den grundlegenden Prinzipien, dass Vertrage eingehalten werden missen. Gleichzeitig sind Widerrufsrechte fur Verbraucher Professor for Private Law, German, European and International Company Law at the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich (Research Professorship), and Visiting Professor (on a continuing basis) at Oxford University. I should like to thank participants in research seminars at the University of Amsterdam (Martijn Hesselink) and at the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods (Christoph Engel/Martin Hellwig) for inter- esting discussions and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments and suggestions.