Soft Law als Steuerungsinstrument in der Bankenaufsicht

The academic literature is quite familiar with the concept of “soft law” as such, whereas the missing definition of the term often leads to insecurity regarding handling the legal challenges arising out of operating with soft law. This book deals with soft law as a regulatory instrument in banking supervisory law, a legal field that has impact on many different financial actors and national economies. As a core of the book, the author presents a definition of soft law and shows the process of the development and implementation of the Basle Accords on three different levels: the international level, the level of European Union law and the level of national law. Thereby, the decisive question is whether the Basle Accords as soft law violate the principle of democracy and lead to a deprivation of power of democratically legitimated organs. In presenting the solution approach the significance of soft law as a regulatory instrument in banking supervisory law is respected as well as the high value of the principle of democracy.