The Transformation of Private Law in an Era of Digital Platforms

The ubiquitous spread of digitalization is posing new challenges to legal doctrines and judicial practices. This is particularly the case with the introduction of digital platforms, which are providing new ways for market participants to interact with one another. A comprehensive response to these challenges was provided by the adoption of two EU directives. Directive 2019/770 concerned contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services, while Directive 2019/771 included, among other things, provisions on purchase/sale agreements concluded remotely, and on the sale of digital content together with hard copy. As a result, new legislation has been implemented which has heralded a new phase of development for European contract law. This legislation overcomes a range of challenges associated with digitalization, including the supply of digital content and digital services. Some aspects of it reinforce tried and tested concepts in traditional contract law. However, it is also marked by several major new developments in order to factor in specific aspects related to digital products and the way they are delivered. Clearly, these new legislative developments are set to play a key role – not just in terms of protecting consumer rights, but in the doctrinal transformation of European contract law as a whole. These new approaches in European legislation evidently demonstrate that contract law needs to address a range of issues that go far beyond current legal regulation in order to develop further. The modernization of contract law therefore requires an understanding of the wholesale transformation of private law in the digital era. It may be necessary to rethink traditional views regarding the relationship between the law of obligations and property/intellectual property law. It appears prudent to make a new distinction between these sub-sectors, and to revise traditional views on how they relate to one another. This is particularly the case if data is recognized under contract law, without said law being able to guarantee sufficient protection of assets. And it is already clear that a range of prerequisites exist for legal tools to work effectively in this context. In the European Union and beyond (particularly in Russia and other Eurasian nations), it has become crucial for new concepts, principles, and rules in the field of contract law and private law as a whole to be developed. This is so that they can be adapted to effectively regulate the changing socioeconomic relations of the digital age.