Contract-Management Duties as a New Regulatory Device

In recent years contract management has changed the contractual practice dramatically. More and more, the negotiation, implementation, and review of contracts are carried out with standardized procedures based on information technology. This not only creates new opportunities to organize business but also new opportunities for the legislator to regulate contracts. In addition to the direct determination of the rights and duties of the parties via contract law, he might now regulate the way contracts are managed. First examples of such regulations have already been adopted. The paper describes the advantages and disadvantages of such regulations. On the one hand, they might substitute mandatory contract rules and hence increase freedom of contract between the parties. On the other hand, they can increase the bureaucracy within firms and thus decrease the parties’ freedom.