As a researcher within the Veniproject The Constitutionalization of private regulation, I am focused on the liability of private agencies for their regulatory activities, such as monitoring, sanctioning and setting norms. To give a concrete example: a French manufacturer of breast implants was found to have lied about the composition of its product. The implants started to leak and tear, with awful medical consequences for women all over the world. There was just one problem: the manufacturer had already gone bankrupt. Who is liable in such a case, the regulator? Can you hold a party liable that isn't directly responsible? What are the reasonable limits of liability law in and outside Europe? The cross-border aspect is facinating: in different countries judges may apply different policy considerations after all.

Paul Verbruggen is Associate Professor of Private Law at Tilburg Law School and research coordinator of the Tilburg Institute for Private Law (TIP). Paul wrote his PhD thesis at the European University Institute in Florence, and was a visiting researcher at London School of Economics and Political Science (2011) and at the University of Oxford (2018). He currently is Visiting Professor of Global Law at KU Leuven, where he holds the professorial chair funded by the Belgian journal Tijdschrift voor Privaatrecht (2019-2021). Before joining Tilburg Law School he was assistant professor of civil law at Radboud University, the Netherlands.

Click here for my courses.