Walter Hallstein, the first president of the European Commission, was a pioneer in shifting European legislation towards private law. In his 1964 article, „Angleichung des Privat- und Prozeßrechts in der Europäischen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft»5 he explores the legal basis for harmonizing private and procedural law within the European Economic Community (EEC). He argues that this harmonization is essential for the effective functioning of the common market, extending beyond the areas of public law initially specified in the treaty. Hallstein discusses the rationale for and limits of legal approximation, emphasizing its role in promoting fair competition and legal rationalization. He outlines various methods for legal unification, including directives aimed at establishing consistent national norms and conventions for creating a unified European law. This is exemplified by proposed initiatives like the European patent and ongoing efforts in contract, company, and insolvency law. Moreover, the article highlights the importance of uniform legal application across member states, suggesting that the European Court of Justice plays a crucial role in ensuring a consistent interpretation of harmonized laws. Ultimately, Hallstein presents this legal integration as a fundamental aspect of European unity, driven by the principle of equal treatment within the common market. With the rise of consumerism in Europe in the late 1960s and 1970s, EU legislators became active in consumer protection starting in the mid-1980s. Since then, various legal acts, mainly in the form of Directives, have been introduced to enhance consumer protection, focusing on specific subjects. For this reason, the emergence of EU private law legislation in the 1980s and 1990s primarily focused on consumer contracts and tort law. Notable directives from this period include the Package Travel Directive (1990), the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (1984), the Product Liability Directive (1985), the Doorstep Selling Directive (1985), the Consumer Credit Directive (1987), the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Directive (1993), the Timeshare Directive (1994), and the Consumer Sales Directive (1999). Most of these directives mandated only minimum harmonisation, except for the Product Liability Directive, which required maximum harmonisation. From 2005 onwards, a movement towards full harmonisation of the aforementioned Consumer Law began, which included the Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Directive 2015. 5 With a similar objective, in the same year, Beitzke, Probleme der Privatrechtsangleichung in der Europäischen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft ZfRV 1964, 80. 197 AN UNDETERMINED FALL AT THE AIRPORT
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