mr. dr. B. (Benedikt) Schmitz

Current

• Quo Vadis Preferential Law Approach? My prior research has shown that Dutch and German scholars interpret the restrictive choice of law in Article 6 (2) Rome I Regulation differently. To find out whether these trends are unique to these jurisdictions or reflect broader tendencies across the European Union, I conduct a study with colleagues from all 27 EU Member States.

• WEAKER-PIL (Weaker Economic Agents and (Un)Known Ecomic Risks in Private International Law): Protection of weaker parties in private international law and substantive law, with a particular focus on small and medium-sized enterprises as weaker parties.

• Rethinking public interests in private relationships
  My PhD research was funded by the sectorplan SSH . Which public interests can only be protected by the government and on which governance level: national, European, or international?

Former

• Taking Stock of Globalisation: the Protection of Economically and Socially Weaker Parties in South African, Dutch, Belgian, and EU Private International Law
  Together with young researchers from Belgium (Michiel Poesen, KU Leuven) and South Africa (Robin Cupido, University of Cape Town), I was awarded a grant to organise a Dutch- and Afrikaans-language conference. The grant, amounting to €3,000, originates from the Belgian Tijdschrift voor Privaatrecht and is aimed at 'further stimulating the cooperation between different faculties from the various regions in the Dutch-speaking world of law'. The conference took place during the academic year 2021/22.