Abstract

The article considers the relationship and balancing between freedom of economic initiative and the obligations arising from anti-discrimination laws. After framing on a theoretical level, the problem of the limits to contractual autonomy deriving from the horizontal application of fundamental rights (Drittwirkung), the article focuses in comparative perspective on its most recent developments, especially in the case-law. The conclusion identifies paradoxes and logical short-circuits and contradictions into which, according to the author, the most widespread approaches to the subject fall, and proposes an alternative conceptual framework for a coherent and satisfactory regulation of this complex matter.