¹ For a full English version of the AGG, see the translation of the Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes (Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency), available at http://www.antidiskriminierungsstelle.de/ADS-en/Service/downloads,did=129628.html (last accessed 16 October 2010).Google Scholar

² For discussions on the AGG and previous drafts of a German anti-discrimination statute, see Engert, Andreas, Allied by Surprise? The Economic Case For an Anti-Discrimination Statute, 4 Germ. L.J. 685 (2003), http://www.germanlawjournal.com/index.php?pageID=11&artID=290; Karl-Heinz Ladeur, The German Proposal of an “Anti-Discrimination”-Law: Anticonstitutional and Anti-Common Sense. A Response to Nicola Vennemann, 3 Germ. L.J. (2002), at http://www.germanlawjournal.com/index.php?pageID=11&artID=152; Eduard Picker, Anti-discrimination as a Program of Private Law?, 4 Germ. L.J. 771 (2003); Florian Stork, Comments on the Draft of the New German Private Law Anti-Discrimination Act: Implementing Directives 2000/43/EC and 2004/113/EC in German Private Law, 6 Germ. L.J. 533 (2005), http://www.germanlawjournal.com/index.php?pageID=11&artID=574; Nicola Vennemann, The German Draft Legislation On the Prevention of Discrimination in the Private Sector, 3 Germ. L.J. (2002), http://www.germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=137; Viktor Winkler, The Planned German Anti-Discrimination Act: Legal Vandalism? A Response to Karl-Heinz Ladeur, 3 Germ. L.J. (2002), http://www.germanlawjournal.com/article.php?id=158.Google Scholar

³ See, inter alia, Gregor Thüsing & Konrad von Hoff, Vertragsschluss als Folgenbeseitigung: Kontrahierungszwang im zivilrechtlichen Teil des Allgemeinen Gleichbehandlungsgesetzes, 60 Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) 21 (2007); Christian Armbrüster, Kontrahierungszwang im Allgemeinen Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, 60 NJW 1494 (2007); Christian Armbrüster, Antidiskriminierungsgesetz – ein neuer Anlauf, 38 Zeitschrift für Rechtspolitik (ZRP) 43 (2005); Dagmar Schiek, § 21, in Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (AGG) (Dagmar Schiek ed., 2007) margin number 8; Jörg Neuner, Diskriminierungsschutz durch Privatrecht, 58 Juristenzeitung (JZ) 57 (2003).Google Scholar

⁴ The scope of application is extended for discrimination based on race or ethnic origin (§ 19 (2) AGG) and—unlike for the other grounds—the AGG does not provide for justifications under § 20 (1) AGG.Google Scholar

⁵ See, inter alia, supra note 3. For the assumptions made for this article as regards prohibitions of discrimination, see below D. I. 1.Google Scholar

⁶ See also the arguments for different treatment of state and non-state action in Matthias Mahlmann, Die Ethik des Gleichbehandlungsrechts, in Gleichbehandlungsrecht 33, 48 (Beate Rudolf & Matthias Mahlmann eds., 2007).Google Scholar

⁷ Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000, O.J. 2000 L 180/22 (implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin), available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2000:180:0022:0026:en:PDF (last accessed 16 October 2010).Google Scholar

⁸ Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004, O.J. 2004 L 373/37 (implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services), available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:373:0037:0043:EN:PDF (last accessed 16 October 2010).Google Scholar

⁹ The European Union replaced and succeeded the European Community with the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon (Art. 1 (3) (3) Treaty on European Union (TEU)). This contribution therefore uses the term “EU Directive.”Google Scholar

¹⁰ See Art. 288 (3) Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).Google Scholar

¹¹ See below C. III. for the requirements of the directives for remedies under national law.Google Scholar

¹² Translation of the Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes (see supra, note 1).Google Scholar

¹³ Sonja Haberl, Antidiskriminierungsrecht und Sanktionensystem: Die Konkretisierung gemeinschaftsrechtlicher Mindestvorgaben, 6 Zeitschrift für Gemeinschaftsprivatrecht (GPR) 202, 205 (2009); Schiek, supra note 3, § 21, margin number 9.Google Scholar

¹⁴ See Bachmann, Gregor, Kontrahierungspflicht im privaten Bankrecht, 18 Zeitschrift für Bankrecht und Bankwirtschaft (ZBB) 257, 266 (2006).Google Scholar

¹⁵ § 22 (2) ADG-E, BT-Drucks 15/4538.Google Scholar

¹⁶ § 22 (1) ADG-E, BT-Drucks 15/4538.Google Scholar

¹⁷ BT-Drucks 15/4538, 43; Florian Stork, Das Gesetz zum Schutz vor Diskriminierungen im Zivilrecht, 8 Zeitschrift für europarechtliche Studien (ZEuS) 49 (2005).Google Scholar

¹⁸ See Thüsing & Hoff, supra note 3, at 22; see also Schiek, supra note 3, § 21, margin number 8.Google Scholar

¹⁹ See Christian Armbrüster, Der allgemein-zivilrechtliche Teil des Allgemeinen Gleichbehandlungsgesetzes, in Gleichbehandlungsrecht 257, 316 (Beate Rudolf & Matthias Mahlmann eds., 2007).Google Scholar

²⁰ Id. at 315.Google Scholar

²¹ See Bachmann, supra note 14, at 266.Google Scholar

²² Gregor Thüsing, § 19 AGG, in Münchener Kommentar zum Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch, margin number 22 (Franz Jürgen Säcker & Roland Rixecker eds., 2007).Google Scholar

²³ For an interpretation in conformity with the European Convention on Human Rights, see Bundesverfassungsgericht, [BVerfG – Federal Constitutional Court], Case No. 2 BvR 1481/04, 14 October 2004, BVerfGE 111, 307.Google Scholar

²⁴ See also ECJ, Case C-397/01, Bernhard Pfeiffer et al. v. Deutsches Rotes Kreuz, 2004 E.C.R. I-8835, para. 114.Google Scholar

²⁵ The EU legislative materials also do not address obligations to contract.Google Scholar

²⁶ The German federal government, in the legislative materials, interprets the directives as not to require punitive damages. BT-Drucks 16/1780, 46.Google Scholar

²⁷ ECJ, Case C-177/88, Dekker v. Stichting Vormingscentrum voor Jong Volwassenen (VJV-Centrum) Plus, 2004 E.C.R. I-3941; Case C-180/1995, Draehmpaehl v. Urania Immobilienservice OHG, 1997 E.C.R. I-2195.Google Scholar

²⁸ See Armbrüster, supra note 3, at 1494 (arguing that there is general agreement that the EU directives leave it to the Member States whether to provide an obligation to contract).Google Scholar

²⁹ See, inter alia, Thüsing & Hoff, supra note 3, at 22.Google Scholar

³⁰ A similar explicit statement could be found in former § 611a (2) Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch [Civil Code - BGB].Google Scholar

³¹ See Christian Armbrüster, Bedeutung des Allgemeinen Gleichbehandlungsgesetzes für private Versicherungsverträge, 57 Versicherungsrecht (VersR) 1297, 1303 (2006); Thüsing & Hoff, supra note 3, at 22.Google Scholar

³² See Posner, Richard, Economic Analysis of Law 566 (7th ed., 2007) (discussing the possibility of a compromise in the legislative proceedings where opponents might have had enough influence to limit the remedies in a statute to a less than optimal level).Google Scholar

³³ The situation for the violation of anti-discrimination provisions is not identical to the situation of a breach of contract, but there are some similarities. To a certain extent, therefore, the argumentation in this paper relies on the principle under German law that specific performance is available for breach of contract as a default remedy and that the plaintiff is not generally restricted to damages only.Google Scholar

³⁴ The argument in Schiek, supra note 3, § 21, margin number 9 appears to go in the same direction.Google Scholar

³⁵ See Rudolf, Beate, Gleichbehandlungsrecht und Öffentliches Recht, in Gleichbehandlungsrecht 186, 192 (Beate Rudolf & Matthias Mahlmann eds., 2007). Some scholars have also seen the primary objective in the protection of dignity and the access to goods and services only as a less important, secondary, objective. See Thüsing & Hoff, supra note 3, at 22 (with reference to the legislative materials, BT-Drucks 16/1780, 20, 33, and 46).Google Scholar

³⁶ See Armbrüster, supra note 3, at 1494; Neuner, supra note 3, at 64.Google Scholar

³⁷ BT-Drucks 16/1780, 23–25.Google Scholar

³⁸ COM (1999) 566 final, 25 November 1999, 5, available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:1999:0566:FIN:EN:PDF (last accessed 16 October 2010).Google Scholar

³⁹ See, inter alia, Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954); United States v. Fordice, 505 U.S. 717 (1992).Google Scholar

⁴⁰ BT-Drucks 16/1780, 24.Google Scholar

⁴¹ For housing discrimination and its results (segregation, lack of educational opportunities, etc.), see Hirsch, Werner, Law and Economics 334 (3rd ed., 1999).Google Scholar

⁴² BT-Drucks 16/1780, 23.Google Scholar

⁴³ See Shavell, Steven, Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law 479 (2004).Google Scholar

⁴⁴ For the effect on incentives, see Shavell, supra note 43, at 244.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ See Posner, supra note 32, at 25; for an analysis of anti-discrimination provisions in private law and reasons for discrimination see Engert, supra note 2.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ See, e.g., the case law of the Bundesgerichtshof [Federal Court of Justice - BGH] on the relevance of preventive aspects for the determination of the amount of damages available for violations of the victim's personality rights (Allgemeines Persönlichkeitsrecht), BGH NJW 1995, 861.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ See supra D. I. 3.; Shavell, supra note 43, at 479.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ On this argument and on the fact that even the optimal level of deterrence is characterized by under-deterrence so that the fair market price argument does not apply see Shavell, supra note 43, at 488.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ See Armbrüster, supra note 3, at 1496.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ There is remarkably little discussion about the appropriateness of public enforcement in German academic discussion (e.g. civil penalties like in the U.S. Americans With Disabilities Act, Title III, 42 U.S.C. § 12188 (b) (2) (C)).Google Scholar

⁵¹ See Haberl, supra note 13, at 205.Google Scholar

⁵² See Busche, Jan, Effektive Rechtsdurchsetzung und Sanktionen bei Verletzung richtliniendeterminierter Diskriminierungsverbote, in: Diskriminierungsschutz durch Privatrecht, 159, 174 (Stefan Leible & Monika Schlachter eds., 2006); Haberl, supra note 13, at 205.Google Scholar

⁵³ The argument that damages are more appropriate than an obligation to contract is often based on the interpretation that the AGG only protects the victim's dignity and that the insult cannot be compensated for by the conclusion of the contract. See Thüsing, supra note 22, § 21, margin number 34.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ See Shavell, supra note 43, at 483.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ See, inter alia, Armbrüster, supra note 3, at 1496.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ On the two level model see supra D. I. 1.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ See the examples in BT-Drucks 15/4538, 44; Busche supra note 52, at 173.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ See Thüsing, supra note 22, § 21, margin number 29 and 30.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ See Busche, supra note 52, at 174.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ ECJ, Case 11/1970, Internationale Handelsgesellschaft v. Einfuhr- und Vorratstelle für Getreide und Futtermittel, 1974 E.C.R. 1125; Bundesverfassungsgericht, Case No. 2 BvR 197/93, 22 October 1986, BVerfGE 73, 339 (Solange II).Google Scholar

⁶¹ See supra C. III.Google Scholar

⁶² See Stork, supra note 17, at 50.Google Scholar

⁶³ Eduard Picker, Antidiskriminierungsgesetz – Der Anfang vom Ende der Privatautonomie?, 57 JZ 880 (2002); Katharina von Koppenfels, Das Ende der Vertragsfreiheit?, 56 Wertpapier-Mitteilungen (WM) 1489, 1491 (2002).Google Scholar

⁶⁴ See Armbrüster, supra note 3, at 1497.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ See Thüsing & von Hoff, supra note 3, at 25.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ See the examples in the legislative materials, BT-Drucks 16/1780, 39.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ BT-Drucks 16/1780, 40.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ Bundesverfassungsgericht, Case No. 1 BvR 409/90, 6 May 1997, BVerfGE 96, 56, 64; Case No. 1 BvF 1,2,3,4,5,6/74, 25 February 1975, BVerfGE 39, 1, 45.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ See Bundesverfassungsgericht, Case No. 1 BvR 26/84, 7 February 1990, BVerfGE 81, 242.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ See von Koppenfels, supra note 63, at 1492.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Bundesverfassungsgericht, Case No. 1 BvR 258/86, 16 November 1993, BVerfGE 89, 276, 285.Google Scholar

⁷² See Deinert, Olaf, § 21, in Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, margin number 81 (Wolfgang Däubler & Martin Bertzbach eds., 2nd ed., 2008).Google Scholar

⁷³ This aspect is often seen as self-evident and not even expressly mentioned in many publications. For the EU legal order see also Art. 3 (3) (2) TEU and Art. 8 and 10 TFEU.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ See Art. 6 TEU and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.Google Scholar