5.7.0 Introductie

For general private law prospectus liability damage claims to be successful, it is in principle the claimant's burden to prove causation between the losses incurred by him and the false and misleading information in the prospectus. German prospectus liability rules distinguish between liability constituting causation and liability completing causation. The liability constituting and completing causation together provide the required condicio sine qua nonconnection.1 Liability constituting causation is established, if there is a causal relationship between the misleading prospectus and the investment decision: the investor must have been induced to acquire the securities of offer by the prospectus.2 The concept of liability constituting causation has many similarities with the concept of reliance in English (common) law. Reliance is an element to be proven by the claimant in a prospectus liability claim based on common law. The investor must have relied on the prospectus before he took his transactional decision. Liability completing causation is established, if there is a causal relationship between the breach of the norm to provide correct and fair information in the prospectus and the actual losses sustained by the investor.3It is required that the prospectus must have had a price impact on the securities and thereby being a cause for the losses incurred by the investor as a result of this price impact.