Carl Baudenbacher

Carl Baudenbacher is a Swiss jurist. He has served as a Judge of the EFTA Court since 1995 and as President since 2003. He was a Full Professor at the University of St. Gallen from 1987 to 2013 and a Permanent Visiting professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law from 1993-2003.

Career

Academia

Carl Baudenbacher attended the School of Law and Economics of the University of Berne. He received his doctorate (Ph.D.) from the University of Berne in 1978 and his habilitation from the University of Zurich in 1982. Baudenbacher was an Acting Law Professor at several prestigious German Universities and an Associate Professor at the University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. He held the Chair of Private, Commercial and Economic law at the University of St Gallen HSG, Switzerland from 1987 to 2013. He was also the Managing Director of the Institute of European and International Business Law at the University of St Gallen HSG from 1991 to 2013. From 1993 to 2002 Baudenbacher was a Permanent Visiting Professor at the University of Texas School of Law for International and European Law. Carl Baudenbacher founded the global postgraduate program Executive Master of European and International Business Law E.M.B.L.-HSG in 1995. E.M.B.L.-HSG is a program for lawyers and non-lawyers based on the concept of a flying classroom and of a global faculty. It takes place in Europe, the U.S., Japan and China. He is the founder and Chairman of the St Gallen International Competition Law Forum ICF and the Director of the Competence Center for European and International Law at the University of St Gallen HSG. Professor Baudenbacher is also a Co-Chairman of the Grigory Tunkin Readings at Moscow State ("Lomonosov") University. Since 1998, he has furthermore been the Chairman of the Board of Editors of the European Law Reporter (ELR), Luxembourg (www.elr.lu).

From 1999 to 2007, Professor Baudenbacher co-chaired the Vienna Globalization Symposium with the former Vice-Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Dr Erhard Busek. He was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Geneva (1989-1990) and at the University of Iceland (2009-2011).

Judiciary

Between 1982 and 1984, Carl Baundenbacher was a Legal Secretary at Bulach District Court, Switzerland. He served as a member of the Supreme Court of the Principality of Liechtenstein between 1994 and 1995. In 1995 he was appointed Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) upon a proposal of the Principality of Liechtenstein. Since 2003 Baudenbacher has served as the Court's President. The EFTA Court hears cases originating from the EFTA States which are Contracting Parties to the EEA Agreement (currently Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). The EEA Agreement has extended the EU single market to those EFTA States. It is based in a two pillar approach. Both pillars, the EU pillar and the EFTA pillar, have their own surveillance authority and their own court. EEA law which has been implemented into the legal orders of the EEA/EFTA States is capable of having direct effect and eventually takes precedence over conflicting national law. The EFTA Court has also recognized EEA State liability. Moreover, EEA law must be interpreted in the light of fundamental rights. The EFTA Court is bound by homogeneity rules to follow or to take into account relevant ECJ case law. In the majority of its cases, it is, however, faced with novel legal questions and consequently has to ‘go first.’ There are countless references by the ECJ, its Advocates General, the General Court and high courts in Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Switzerland. In practice, the one-sided written homogeneity rules have largely been superseded by a "unique judicial dialogue" (ECJ Advocate General Verica Trstenjak). President Baudenbacher participated in roughly 250 cases stemming from the whole range of EEA law, from fundamental freedoms (goods, persons, services, self-employed and companies, capital) to competition law and State aid law to harmonized economic law). Frequently described as a very influential member of the EFTA Court, Baudenbacher acted as the Reporting Judge in a number of landmark cases including E-29/15 Sorpa; E-14/15 Holship Norge AS v Norsk Transportarbeiderforbund; E-4/15 Icelandic Financial Services Association v ESA; E-27/13 Gunnarsson; E-25/13; Engilbertsson; E-15/12 Wahl; E-16/11 Icesave; E-14/11 DB Schenker; E-15/10 Posten Norge; E-9/11 Regulated Markets I; E-18/11 Irish Bank; E-14/10 Konkurrenten; E-1/10 Periscopus; E-1/06 Gaming Machines; E-3/06 Ladbrokes; E-4/04 Pedicel; E-1/04 Fokus Bank; E-2/03 Ásgeirsson; E-3/02Paranova v Merck; E-3/00 Kelloggs; E-1/99 Finanger; E-1/98 Astra Norge; E-3/97 Opel Norge; E-2/97 Maglite.

On 16 April 2011, the leading Norwegian business paper Dagens Næringsliv referred to President Baudenbacher as "King Carl of the EEA" and as "one of Norway's most powerful men."

Consultancy et alia

Baudenbacher has acted as an arbitrator and as an expert witness in international arbitration cases. He was the principal expert advisor to the Government of the Principality of Liechtenstein during the multilateral negotiations on the establishment of a European Economic Area (EEA). He also advised the President, the Government and the Parliament of the Swiss Confederation on matters of European integration, competition law and copyright law, the Israeli Government on matters of unfair competition and trademark law and the Government of the Russian Federation on competition law, the UNCTAD and the OECD on matters of competition law. Professor Baudenbacher has furthermore advised the Court of Justice of the Andean Community and the Government of the Republic of Chile on its project for a new constitution. In 2014, he has served as a member of the five member Commission of the Austrian Government which investigated the events around the Hypo Group Alpe Adria (so-called ‘Griss-Commission’).

Baudenbacher is a much sought-after speaker at international conferences in particular on competition law, EU/EEA Law, and the law of international adjudication and arbitration. He is also invited on a regular basis to speak on these topics at prestigious European, American, Asian and Latin American universities (including Basel, Berne, Bucerius, Cambridge, Cologne, Fudan, Geneva, Harvard, Jagiellonian University of Kraków, King's College London, Kyoto, Oxford, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú-PUCP, Princeton, Tokyo, Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México-UNAM, University of Texas at Austin, University of Tokyo, Vienna, Waseda, Zurich).

Published works

40 books and over 250 articles on European and International law, law of obligations, labour law, law of unfair competition, antitrust law, company law, intellectual property law, comparative law, arbitration and the law of international courts.

Significant Publications:

Awards and Honours

External links

Legal offices
Preceded by
Thór Vilhjálmsson		 President of the European Free Trade Association Court
2003–present 		Incumbent
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