Carl Baudenbacher is a Swiss jurist. He has served as the President of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Court since 2003 and has since 1987 been a Professor of Law at the University of St Gallen HSG. From 1993-2002 Baudenbacher was a Permanent Visiting Professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law for International and European Law.
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Carl Baudenbacher attended Law School of the University of Bern. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Bern in 1978 and his habilitation from the University of Zürich in 1982. Baudenbacher was an Acting Law Professor at several German Universities and a Full Professor at the University of Kaiserslautern. Since 1987 he holds the Chair of Private, Commercial and Economic law at the University of St Gallen HSG, Switzerland. Since 1990 he is also Managing Director of the Institute of European and International Business Law at the University of St Gallen HSG. Carl Baudenbacher founded the global postgraduate program Executive Master of European and International Business Law E.M.B.L.-HSG in 1995 which takes place in Europe, the U.S., Japan and China. He is Chairman of the St Gallen International Competition Law Forum ICF, the St Gallen International Energy Forum IEF (together with Dr Dirk Buschle) and the St Gallen International Dispute Settlement Conference IDSC. From 1999 to 2007, Professor Baudenbacher chaired together with the former Vice-Chancellor of the Republic of Austria, Dr. Erhard Busek, the Vienna Globalization Symposium.
From 1994-1995 Carl Baudenbacher served as a member of the Supreme Court of the Principality of Liechtenstein. 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 been the Court’s President. The EFTA Court hears cases originating from the EFTA States which are Contracting Parties to the EEA Agreement. These are currently Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. 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. 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. This has led to judicial dialogue in the form of numerous references by the ECJ, its Advocates General, the General Court and high courts in Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom and Sweden. President Baudenbacher has frequently been described as a very influential judge. On 16 April 2011, the leading Norwegian business paper Dagens Næringsliv referred to him as “King Carl of the EEA”.
Baudenbacher has acted as an arbitrator and as an expert witness in international arbitration cases. He was furthermore the main 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 of copyright law, the Israeli Government on matters of unfair competition and trademark law and the Government of the Russian Federation on matters of competition law. 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 in European, U.S.-American and Asian universities.
40 books and over 200 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:
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| Preceded by Thór Vilhjálmsson |
President of the European Free Trade Association Court 2003–present |
Incumbent |