Beyond Consumer Law - Small Enterprises, Independent Contractors and other Professional Weak Parties

The need to protect weak parties from unfair standard contract terms does not only exist in b2c relationships, as one could at first sight believe. In business contracts also, entrepreneurs and other professionals can be subservient to their counterparty. Accordingly, this may result in an asymmetrical situation posing the same problems that are usually addressed in consumer contracts. On the grounds of these introductory considerations, this paper aims at analysing the problem from a European point of view, with special attention to the Italian legal system. A variety of different solutions - depending on the single rationales of the different legal systems at issue - emerges, offering de iure condendo a good starting point for a fresh and novel pragmatic approach.