Directive 1999/44/EC and the Smart Regulation: Has the Directive complied with the principles of simplicity and proportionality under the Smart Regulation initiative for consumers in Germany and England and Wales?

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Chapter 1, : Article 3 and 5 of Directive 1999/44/EC:
The starting point of this paper would logically be the Consumer Rights Directive, as it lies in the heart of the discussion. A brief discussion on the legal basis of the Directive will be provided and then reader s attention will be focused on two specific articles, namely article 3 and 5, referring to the newly proposed remedial system and the two-year warranty period. Finally, a short summary of relevant case-law of the European Court of Justice ( the ECJ ) in relation to these provisions, in particular article 3, will be included in order to illustrate the court s interpretation of the Directive with regard to its application and interpretation on national level.
Section 1: Legal basis:
The Consumer Rights Directive itself refers to article 169 [ex article 153 TEC] of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union as a legal source, which promotes high level of protection for consumers. This concept has been further embraced by the drafters, as recitals 1 and 23 demonstrate. An important remark would be that this rule is applicable pursuant to article 114 [ex article 95 TEC] of the same Treaty, which envisages the ground-laying idea of the Directive as a whole to serve as a means for minimum harmonization; the intent of the legislator seems to have adopted this line of thought judging by several recitals. Thus, based on the principles embedded in the Treaties, the Consumer Rights Directive should be interpreted as a tool for minimum harmonization in its transposition to national law orders, since it provides member states with the open opportunity to impose stricter rules on specific areas.
Section 2: Article 3 of the Consumer Rights Directive:
One of the main points of discussion in this paper is the newly adopted system of remedies under article 3 of the Directive. The provision itself lays its basis on the principle that the seller is responsible for any lack of conformity on his

Zlatka Koleva is born in 1992 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. After an excellent performance at Plovdiv English Language High School with majors in German, English, Bulgarian and Mathematics, she moved to Groningen, the Netherlands, to study a bachelor programme in International and European Law. Throughout her studies she participated in the Erasmus Mundus programme and studied a semester at the University of Sheffield, UK, where Zlatka developed a passion for company and commercial law. This has inspired her to conduct a research in consumer law, which resulted in a comprehensive comparative study between the English legal system and the German law of obligations. Currently, Zlatka is a Master student in Commercial law, specialization Commercial and Company law at Erasmus University Rotterdam.