Reverse Factoring Schemes and Their Implications for the Fairness of Supply-Chain Relations in the European Union. Current Issues and Potential Solutions from a Comparative Perspective

Abstract The manuscript discusses the evolution and some relevant legal issues pertaining to the legal figure of reverse factoring, focusing, in particular, on the European context. In the first place, while developing a comparative analysis of some important national regulatory settings, the paper aims to investigate how different contract laws, through the combination of general principles and special provisions, attempt to address critical issues and potential abuses connected to the use of reverse factoring schemes, such as, most notably, the coercion of parties into entering such schemes. On the other hand, the elements drawn from the comparative analysis are meant to be framed within the dimension of EU law, in order to reconstruct potential regulatory hypotheses and solutions at the EU level, also in the light of fairness concerns which, in the EU internal market and especially from the side of Small and Medium Enterprises, arise from the widespread use of reverse factoring, mostly revolving around exploitation of small-sized suppliers by powerful buyers.