Harmonisation of the law on successive fixed-term contracts in the European Union, an analysis of the hamonising effect of Directive 1999/70 with regard to successive fixed-term contracts based on a comparison of law.

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Sudabeh Kamanabrou
• Subject Area: Private Law
• Term: from 2013 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 246553365

In those fields of law, in which the EU has legislative powers, it strives for the harmonisation of law. For this purpose the EU uses mainly directives, among them Directive 1999/70 on fixed-term contracts which aims among other things to prevent the abuse of successive fixed-term contracts.To date there is no study on the degree of harmonisation reached by this directive. This question arises, because the legislative restrictions for the Member States that are entailed by the directive are not justified unless there is a harmonising effect. Directive 1999/70 is particularly suitable for a study on harmonisation effects: On the one hand, its harmonising effect is less certain than that of other directives because of its framework character. On the other hand, the Member States had some trouble transposing its regulations. This fact is reflected in the referral proceedings on this subject which were lodged by courts of different Member States.The aim of the project is to analyse the extent of the harmonisation achieved in the EU in the field of successive fixed-term contracts and to assess if Directive 1999/70 fulfils its harmonising function. To reach this aim, the European requirements provided by the directive are analysed. Moreover the law on successive fixed-term contracts in some Member states is researched thus laying the foundation to compare the level of protection provided by those countries. The results achieved on those interim goals (requirements provided by the directive, country reports, legal comparison) makes it possible to assess the harmonisational effects of Directive 1999/70 (main aim).The first interim goal is the analysis of the European requirements on successive fixed-term contracts provided by Directive 1999/70 in view of the case law of the ECJ.Simultaneously the wok on the second interim goal (country reports concerning the law on successive fixed-term contracts) can be commenced. It will firstly be settled which countries are to be included in the project. Subsequently the country reports will be compiled. They will be created with the help of a questionnaire (12 questions). In temporal terms this part will be the main part of the project.The country reports are the basis for the comparative part concerning the level of protection in the reviewed Member States (third interim goal). The evaluation of the reports will show to which extent regulatory models can be gleaned from them and if there are countries with a similar regulatory structure. Possibly, there are only punctual consistencys among some countries, possibly, there are greater consistencies. The comparative part will also show which issues are paid attention to and if the result is the same for all or at least a great part of the reviewed countries.On the basis of the results the basic question on the extent of the of the harmonisation achieved by Directive 1999/70 in the field of successive fixed-term contracts can be answered.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants