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Prof. R. (René) Smits

professor emeritus, Law of the Economic and Monetary Union
Faculty of Law
Dep. Private Law

Visiting address
  • Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
Postal address
  • Postbus 15842
    1001 NH Amsterdam
  • Profile

    Currently, as a consultant, I give advice on EMU law, banking regulation legislation and competition law. I am also a Member of the Administrative Board of Review (ABoR), the independent review panel for the ECB’s supervisory decisions, and an assessor in the Competition College of the Belgian Competition Authority

    For many years now, I have been a member of the Committee on International Monetary Law of the International Law Association (MOCOMILA). Since 2017, I have been an Expert on the Panel of Recognized International Market Experts in Finance (P.R.I.M.E. Finance). 

    From 2000-2020, I have been part-time professor of the law of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) at the University of Amsterdam where I still teach Institutional Aspects of EU Financial and Monetary Law and Regulation in the Master Law & Finance and where I won the title of Lecturer of the Year in 2020. I also teach at the Università di Bologna.

    Previously, I have worked for the central bank and for the competition authority of the Netherlands. For 24 years, I have worked for De Nederlandsche Bank N.V. (DNB, the Dutch central bank) in Amsterdam  where I was general counsel (1989-2001) as head of the legal department that I set up. My responsibilities ranged from legal advice on central-bank related subjects, with a focus on EC banking directives, the IMF and the preparations for economic and monetary union, to in-house corporate affairs. In this capacity, I was a member of the Legal Committee of the European System of Central Banks.

    From late 2001 until early 2014, I worked at the Netherlands Competition Authority (Nederlandse Mededingingautoriteit, or NMa) in The Hague, first as director of the authority’s legal department (2001-2004), then as Chief Legal Counsel (2004-2013), giving legal advice to the NMa’s Board and its departments and, finally, as strategic legal counsel at the Authority Consumers & Markets (Autoriteit Consument & Markt, or ACM), the successor to NMa (2013-2014).

    I have written extensively on a variety of subjects: my academic publications range from an early institutional monograph on the ECB (1997) to contributions on EMU, including on democratic accountability of the ECBbank holding regulation in Africasustainable finance; competition law enforcement in line with animal rights; and transparency of court proceedings on EU prudential supervision

    Born in 1954, I studied sociology and law at the Vrije Universiteit (Free University) in Amsterdam, graduating in 1977.

    I am married to Anneke de Blieck. We have two children and five grandchildren.

  • Publications

    2020

    • Smits, R. (2020). A National Measure Annulled by the European Court of Justice, or: High-level Judicial Protection for Independent Central Bankers. Case note on: ECJ, 26/02/19, C-202/18, ECLI:EU:C:2019:139 (Ilmārs Rimšēvičs v Republic of Latvia). European Constitutional Law Review, 16(1), 120-144. [details]

    2019

    2018

    2017

    2014

    2012

    • Smits, R. (2012). Tax deductibility of fines imposed for competition law infringements. ECLR: European Competition Law Review, 33(3), 138-145. [details]

    2015

    2014

    • Lastra, R. M., Krauskopf, B., Gortsos, C., & Smits, R. (2014). MOCOMILA report (April 2014): European Banking Union. (ECEFIL working paper series; No. 2014/9). Athens: European Center of Economic and Financial Law. [details]
    • Smits, R. (2014). [From the board:] Constitutional reflections and crisis ruminations. Legal Issues of Economic Integration, 41(4), 315-329. [details]

    2012

    • Smits, R. (2012). Correspondence: The European debt crisis and European Union law: comments and a call for action. Common Market Law Review, 49(2), 827-831. [details]
    • Smits, R. (Ed.) (2012). Islamic finance and the influence of religion on the law. The Hague: Eleven international publishing. [details]

    2011

    • Smits, R. (2011). From the board: Perspectives on the euro crisis. Legal Issues of Economic Integration, 38(2), 107-114. [details]

    2010

    • Blair, W., Baxter, T., Sáinz de Vicuña y Barroso, A., Gross, D., Affaki, G., Akin-Olugbade, A., ... Zehetner, F. (2010). International Law Association The Hague Conference (2010): Committee on International Monetary Law. [s.l.]: MOCOMILA. [details]
    • Smits, R. (2010). Europe's post-crisis supervisory arrangements: a critique. Revista de concorrência e regulação, 1(2), 125-166. [details]
    • Smits, R. (2010). European supervisors in the credit crisis: issues of competence and competition. In M. Giovanoli, & D. Devos (Eds.), International monetary and financial law: the global crisis (pp. 305-328). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [details]
    • Smits, R. (2010). L'Euro(pe) à l'épreuve: éditorial. Cahiers de Droit Européen, 46(1-2), 7-15. [details]

    2009

    • Fierstra, M., Beumer, E., Frese, M. J., Haasbeek, L., Prompers, A., Smits, R., & van Veen, C. (2009). Report for the XXIVth FIDE conference: The judicial application of European competition law in the Netherlands. [S.l.]: [Nederlandse Vereniging voor Internationaal Recht]. [details]
    • Smits, R. (2009). From the board: The credit crisis and its aftermath. Legal Issues of Economic Integration, 36(4), 279-284. [details]
    • Smits, R. (2009). International representation of Europe in the area of Economic and Monetary Union: legal issues and practice in the first ten years of the Euro. Euredia, 2009(2), 297-333. [details]

    2008

    • Smits, R. (2008). The European Central Bank’s independence and its relations with economic policy makers. Fordham International Law Journal, 31(6), 1614-1636. [details]
    • Smits, R. (2008). The changing payments landscape of Europe: issues of regulation and competition. Yearbook of European Law, 27, 405-444. [details]

    2022

    2021

    • Smits, R. (2021). The ECB’s E-ROAD ahead. Unpublished. In T. Beukers, D. Fromage, & G. Monti (Eds.), The ‘New’ European Central Bank: Taking Stock and Looking Ahead Oxford University Press.
    • Smits, R. (2021). The European Central Bank’s pandemic bazooka: mandate fulfilment in extraordinary times. In D. Utrilla, & A. Shabbir (Eds.), EU Law in Times of Pandemic – the EU’s Legal Response to COVID-19 (pp. 241-268). Comares. https://bookshop.eulawlive.com/book/eu-law-in-times-of-pandemic/

    2020

    2019

    2018

    • Brescia Morra, C., Smits, R., & Magliari, A. (2018). De Administrative Board of Review van de Europese Centrale Bank: de eerste ervaringen. Tijdschrift voor Financieel Recht, 2018(4), 185-201. https://denhollander.info/artikel/14838 [details]

    2017

    2016

    2015

    2014

    • Smits, R. (2014). Sustainable competition law enforcement: animal rights. In D. Arts, W. Devroe, R. Foqué, K. Marchand, & I. Verougstraete (Eds.), Mundi et Europae civis: liber amicorum Jacques Steenbergen (pp. 533-542). Brussel: Larcier. [details]

    2013

    • Smits, R. (2013). Naleving mededingingsregels: aandacht vereist! Tijdschrift voor Compliance, 2013(3), 235-240. [details]

    2012

    2010

    2009

    2008

    • Amador Sanchez, P., Dijkman, M. N., Lamboo, E., & Smits, R. (2008). De ontmanteling van kartelparadijs Nederland; tien jaar Mededingingswet en NMa. Justitiële Verkenningen, 34(6), 22-51. [details]
    • Blocks, H. G. M., Cornet, P. A. A. M., Dewall, F. A., & Smits, R. (2008). Inbedding van MVO door verankering van integriteit: een beschouwing over financiële ondernemingen, menselijk gedrag en compliance. Banking and Securities Business, okt 2008, 28-33. [details]
    • Smits, R. (2008). ABN AMRO: A take-over battle with far-reaching implications. Euredia, 2007-2008(2), 107-112. [details]
    • Smits, R. (2008). The challenges of the credit crunch and beyond. Legal Issues of Economic Integration, 35(2), 103-107. [details]

    Talk / presentation

    • Smits, R. (speaker) (11-10-2016). The EU perspective, the Single Rulebook and bank holding regulation, The Single Supervisory Mechanism - Experience from the First Years of an Interplay with National Banking Supervision.
    • Smits, R. (speaker) (10-10-2016). Sustainable Economic and Monetary Union in Europe in Turbulent Times, ADEMU Lecture on Economic and Monetary Union.
    • Smits, R. (speaker) (23-6-2016). EMU law developments, CIRSF Annual International Conference 2016, Lissabon.

    2017

    2016

    • Taylor, J., & Smits, R. (2016). Bank Holding Company Regulation in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa: A Comparative Inventory and a Call for Pan-African Regulation. London: Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2881819 [details]
    This list of publications is extracted from the UvA-Current Research Information System. Questions? Ask the library or the Pure staff of your faculty / institute. Log in to Pure to edit your publications. Log in to Personal Page Publication Selection tool to manage the visibility of your publications on this list.
  • Ancillary activities
    • St.Jacob Soetendorp Inst. for Hum Values
      onbezoldigd stichtingsbestuurslidmaatschap
    • P.R.I.M.E. Finance
      Expert advice and arbitration in financial-law related disputes
    • RS Law & Society Consulting B.V.
      consultancy werkzaamheden consultancy services
    • Europese Centrale Bank
      Lid Administratieve Raad voor Toetsing https://www.bankingsupervision.europa.eu/