German Debt Law Reform: Recent Developments in the German Civil Code

Author: Du Jinglin, Lu Chen (editors)
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2003-02-01
Features: After more than 20 years of arduous preparation, the effort to recreate the foundations of German civil law has finally come to a successful conclusion. This is marked by the entry into force on January 1, 2002, of the German Law on Modernization of Obligation Law. This is a major event in German civil law. The fundamental impetus for Germany's reform of its obligation law was the significant defects and shortcomings inherent in the German Civil Code (especially in the areas of impediment to performance law, sales law, work contract law, and prescription law). These defects and shortcomings have severely hindered and constrained the progress and development of German civil law. However, this major "revolution" in German civil law was delayed due to political reasons. What truly brought this reform plan closer to the German public and into their daily lives was the European Union directives (EU-Richtlinien) from the EU headquarters in Brussels. Among these, the EU Directive on Consumer Goods Purchases (verbrauchsgueterkaufrichtlinie) was the first to be transposed into German domestic law. German legislators seized the strong momentum of transposing EU secondary legislation—the EU directives—to eliminate a series of significant defects and shortcomings that had long existed in the German Civil Code. Another reason for this major "operation" on German civil law, the most significant and profound since the German Civil Code's inception, is the Europeanization of civil law in EU member states. In this process, it is necessary to harmonize the domestic laws of each member state. Due to the highly "refined" system of impediment to performance law in the German Civil Code, it was inevitable to be "too high for the masses," making it unlikely to be competitive on a European scale. Therefore, to align with "Europe" and to become a "leader" in the imminent Europeanization of civil law, Germany must "simplify" its civil law and "modernize" it. Additionally, during the Europeanization of civil law, the transposition of these directives led to the creation of numerous special laws outside the German Civil Code, so numerous that they threatened to "" the core of the German Civil Code. However, this situation is not what people desire. It not only contradicts Germany's inherent legal traditions but also undermines the German Civil Code's status as the core civil code. Thus, "eradicating" these "weeds" also became a significant driving force behind this reform. Our country is currently drafting a civil code. Since China has adopted German law, tracking the changes in the "mother law"—German civil law—especially its defects and developments, will greatly benefit us and is extremely necessary. For the sake of better understanding and research, we have provided a full translation of the German Law on Modernization of Obligation Law in an appendix. This law consists of nine articles. Article 1 amends the German Civil Code; Article 2 amends the Implementation Act for the German Civil Code; Article 3 amends the German Law on Claims for Non-Performance; Article 4 amends the German Code on Information Obligations for Tour Operators; Article 5 amends 38 other laws; Article 6 repeals certain regulations; Article 7 restores the unified administrative regulation hierarchy; Article 8 grants permission for re-publication; and Article 9 specifies the effective and invalid dates.