The credit rating industry called for many debates on its civil liability since the origin of the industry at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 2013, the Union legislature introduced a right to damages, which issuers and investors can directly enforce against credit rating agencies under Article 35a CRA Regulation. This provision has drawn attention because of its remarkable structure: Article 35a CRA Regulation introduced a legal ground for civil liability at the European level, while general tort law has not been harmonised at the European level. This book investigates Article 35a CRA Regulation from multiple legal perspectives. Combining EU law, Private International Law and Dutch, French, German and English national private law, this book answers the main question of whether Article 35a CRA Regulation achieves its post-crisis goal of being an adequate right of redress for issuers and investors whilst it has to be interpreted under various systems of national law. In answering this question, the book takes a broader European approach and also rates the usefulness of Article 35a CRA Regulation as a European template for civil liability to be used by the Union legislature.

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ABBREVIATIONS; 1 INTRODUCTION; 2 INFLUENCE OF EU LAW ON CIVIL LIABILITY; 3 CREDIT RATING INDUSTRY AND ITS REGULATION; 4 PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW ASPECTS; 5 INTERPRETATION AND APPLICATION ARTICLE 35A UNDER DUTCH, FRENCH, GERMAN AND ENGLISH LAW; 6 OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS; REFERENCES; INDEX