Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

The Data Heist: Protecting Consumers And Their Information Through Opt-In Consent, John A. Hudson

Arkansas Law Review

This Comment will: (1) compare and contrast the data privacy laws in the United States and the European Union; (2) demonstrate the significant risk American consumers are subject to under the United States’ current laws and regulations; and (3) address the protections provided by the European Union’s explicit opt-in consent requirement that would ensure safer conditions for American consumers.

The Reluctant Lawmaker. The European Union And The Regulation Of Gambling Between The Principle Of Free Circulation Of Services And Member States Prerogatives, Nadia Coggiola Ph.D

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

Abstract

Although the European Union legislator is generally very keen to rely primarily and sometimes even exclusively on economic considerations, and therefore to generally protect consumers’ interests, this attitude is largely different when gambling issues are a stake.

In fact, even if it is generally undisputed, also by the same European Union legislator, that authorized gambling contracts are to be considered as consumers’ contracts, when facing the regulation of gambling contracts, the European Union often restrains from using all of its legislative powers.

As a consequence, the European legislation on consumer’s contracts generally explicitly exclude from its application gambling contracts, …

How The World's Largest Economies Regulate Data Privacy: Drawbacks, Benefits, & Proposed Solutions, Alexander J. Pantos

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

National data privacy regimes are quickly gaining traction and ubiquity around the globe. Moving forward, countries will face a range of difficult decisions surrounding how best to engage internationally in cross border data flow, particularly in the context of personal information (PI).

This article takes a bird's-eye view of the current state of data privacy regimes in the world's four highest GDP regions. In part, this article hopes to provide a succinct analysis of these data privacy regimes, with a focus on the balance they strike between granting individuals rights in their data and placing responsibilities on businesses that deal …

United States Food Law Update: Shrouded By Election-Year Politics, State Initiatives And Private Lawsuits Fill In The Gaps Created By Congressional And Agency Ossification, A. Bryan Endres, Lisa R. Schlessinger, Rachel Armstrong

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Observers of food law in the 2012 presidential election year witnessed a dramatic slowing of federal initiatives-perhaps arising from a desire by both Congress and the administration to avoid upsetting critical constituent groups during a year seemingly dominated by campaigns and endless talking points. For example, Congress failed to take action on a unique compromise between what some had considered mortal enemies-the Humane Society of the United States and United Egg Producers-that would implement a federal animal welfare standard for laying hens in return for abandoning ballot measures in various states. Similarly, the FDA waited until the early days of …

Unscrewing The Future: The Right To Repair And The Circumvention Of Software Tpms In The Eu, Anthony D. Rosborough

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This analysis examines the impact of software technological protection measures (“TPMs”) in the European Union which inhibit the repair and maintenance of products. Using John Deere tractors as a case study, this analysis addresses the growing number of products which incorporate computerisation and TPMprotected software into their design and function. In utilising software integration and TPMs, many product designs now allow manufacturers to retain considerable control over the manner of repair and choice of technician. In response, consumers and lawmakers are calling for legal reforms to make self-repair and servicing easier. Both the competition law and moral implications of this …

Beauty Shouldn’T Cause Pain: A Makeover Proposal For The Fda’S Cosmetics Regulation, Lauren Jacobs

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The American cosmetics industry is not required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct pre-market safety assessments of cosmetics. The FDA only reviews personal care products when people voluntarily report problems. Further, companies continue to test animals for cosmetics, despite the FDA’s recommendation that manufacturers seek more humane and accurate testing. Although the FDA does not require animal testing for product safety or premarket approval, the United States is one of the largest users of laboratory animals for product testing. There are two pending pieces of legislation, which if passed would be the first acts of cosmetic regulation …

Net Neutrality And The European Union’S Copyright Directive For The Digital Single Market, Nathan Guzé

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

The European Union’s Copyright Directive for the Digital Single Market should cause concern for net neutrality advocates. This article casts a critical gaze at Article 17 (previously Article 13) of this new Directive. It chronicles the Directive’s life: starting as a reaction to the perceived inadequate copyright protections provided by the previous Information Society Copyright Directive through to its then-present status circa May 2019. Next, net neutrality is defined, and its benefits and detriments are weighed to ultimately determine the policy is desirable. Article 17’s call for eliminating safe-harbor provisions for content hosts and its call for content filters signal …

Given Today's New Wave Of Protectionsim, Is Antitrust Law The Last Hope For Preserving A Free Global Economy Or Another Nail In Free Trade's Coffin?, Allison Murray

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Online Dispute Resolution, Ronald A. Brand

Articles

This chapter was prepared from a presentation given by the author at the 2019 Summer School in Transnational Commercial Law & Technology, jointly sponsored by the University of Verona School of Law and the Center for International Legal Education (CILE) of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. In the paper, I review online dispute resolution (ODR) by considering the following five questions, which I believe help to develop a better understanding of both the concept and the legal framework surrounding it:

A. What is ODR?

B. Who does ODR?

C. What is the legal framework for ODR?

D. What …

Consumer Arbitrations In The European Union, Andreas Von Goldbeck

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The main argument of this paper is that the law should generally enforce pre-dispute consumer arbitration clauses. If the consumer is given a choice between litigation and arbitration at the time of contracting and she chooses arbitration, that choice should generally be enforceable, provided appropriate safeguards are in place guaranteeing access to justice. Consumer protection comes at a cost, which the consumer ultimately pays in the price of the product or service purchased: assuming arbitration is the more cost-efficient dispute-resolution mechanism, consumers choosing arbitration would, in theory, pay a lower price than those choosing litigation. The blanket hostility towards pre-dispute …

The Gdpr’S Version Of Algorithmic Accountability, Margot Kaminski

Publications

No abstract provided.

"I'M Just Some Guy": Positing And Leveraging Legal Subjects In Consumer Contracts And The Global Market, Tal Kastner

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This article considers how legal frameworks shape the autonomous subject in a global economy. It makes salient the ways that different legal frameworks presume and enforce a particular subjectivity by positing certain behavioral expectations of various subjects. It does so through a focus on the underexplored rhetoric and implicit narratives of consumer contract law and transactional practice in the American and European regimes. By comparing the approach of the European Union to consumer contract, which posits the consumer as facing significant constraints on agency, to that in the United States, which elides functional limits of consumer knowledge and choice, this …

The Cfpb Anti-Arbitration Proposal: Let's Just Give Arbitration A Chance., Ramona L. Lampley

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming.

Nutritional Labelling In France - Causes And Implications Of Consumer Confusion, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

This article discusses the controversial and heavily debated initiatives aimed at introducing nutritional labelling in France – initiatives which have exploited the ambiguity of the Art. 35 of the Regulation (EU ) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers and have also perhaps misappropriated the provisions of Art. 34.

El Desperdicio De Alimentos En La Unión Europea: ¿Un Nuevo Desafío Para El Derecho Agroalimentario?, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

Resumen

La pérdida o el desperdicio de alimentos se producen a lo largo de toda la cadena alimentaria, desde la producción agrícola inicial hasta el consumo final en los hogares. En la Unión Europea (UE), los alimentos se desperdician de manera significativa en la etapa del consumo, lo que significa que se desechan (se tiran) incluso si todavía son adecuados para el consumo humano. También se detectan pérdidas importantes al principio de las cadenas de suministro de alimentos. En los países de ingresos bajos, los alimentos se pierden principalmente durante las primeras etapas y las etapas intermedias de la cadena …

Directive 2005/29/Ec On Unfair Commercial Practices And Its Application To Food-Related Consumer Protection, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

Directive 2005/29/EC on Unfair Commercial Practices was adopted on 11 May 2005 to help consumers benefit from the Internal Market by removing regulatory barriers, deriving from divergent national rules, which discouraged firms from selling and undermined consumers' trust in buying across the EU. It provides for a high level of consumer protection in all sectors and works as a safety net that fills the gaps, which are not regulated by other EU sector- specific rules (i.e. Foodstuffs).

European Food (Mis)Information To Consumers: Do Safety Risks Lie Just Around The Corner?, Luis González Vaqué, Corrado Finardi

Luis González Vaqué

Regulation 1169/20111 of the European Parliament and the Council is hardly new, yet debate around it continues to gain momentum in academic literature and the food business community, including in the latter case on new media and social networks. This appears to be due not just to the intrinsic relevance of the law but also to its delayed introduction, along with pending uncertainties and the need for further disambiguation. It has already required two separate clarifications from the EC services, in the form of “Questions andAnswers” documents - the second due to be published at the time of writing.

Loose Teeth In European Union Consumer Protection Policy: The Injunction Directive And The Mass Default Scenario, David J. Schwartz

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Proposed Eu Consumer Product Safety Regulation And Its Potential Conflict With Food Legislation, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

In mid-February of 2013 the European Commission proposed a new package of legislative and non-legislativemeasures to improve consumer product safety and to strengthenmarket surveillance of products in the EU. These measures included the following: – Communication from the Commission on more product safety andbettermarket surveillance inthe Single Market for products [COM(2013) 74 final2]; – Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament...

Authorized Health Claims Pursuant To Regulation (Ec) No 1924/2006: The Difficulty Of Producer-Consumer Communication, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

Consumer information is one of the most important and popular tools in consumer policy and protection, and will be for the foreseeable future. It is “important” because of its role in correcting imbalances in communication (whether of a commercial nature or not) and enabling consumers to make transactional decisions based on their own preferences and needs.

"La Protección De Los Consumidores Vulnerables En El Derecho Del Consumo De La Ue [El Programa Plurianual Para El Período 2014-2020]", Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

El Programa plurianual de Consumidores para el período 2014-2020 (Reglamento nº 254/2014) debería contribuir a garantizar un nivel elevado de protección de los consumidores y respaldar plenamente las aspiraciones de la Estrategia Europa 2020 por lo que se refiere al crecimiento y la competitividad, gracias a la evolución hacia unos modelos de consumo más sostenibles, a la inclusión social así como a la toma en consideración de la situación particular de los consumidores vulnerables y las necesidades que crea el envejecimiento de la población, sobre la base del seguimiento del mercado de consumo para poder desarrollar normativas bien estructuradas y …

A Decade Of Registered And Unregistered Design Rights Decisions In The Uk: What Conclusions Can We Draw For The Future Of Both Types Of Rights?, Estelle Derclaye

IP Theory

No abstract provided.

A Specter Is Haunting The Financial Industry - The Specter Of The Global Financial Crisis: A Comment On The Imminent Expansion Of Consumer Financial Protection In The United States, The United Kingdom, And The European Union, Daniel Lamb

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This Comment explores the regulatory fallout from the global financial crisis. Across borders, policy makers are united in their conviction to reconcile the perceived failures of their predecessors to foresee and prevent the crisis, the effects of which show no signs of abating. A critical component of what caused the crisis was the inability to correct failures in the consumer credit market, specifically in subprime mortgages. Exacerbated by an influx of capital and a generally weak regulatory environment, this market failure manifested itself forcefully through a tidal wave of defaults in the American mortgage market that sent shock waves around …

La Mise En Oeuvre De La Directive 2005/29/Ce Sur Les Pratiques Commerciales Déloyales : Les Consommateurs Vulnerables Sont-Ils Suffisamment Protégés?, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

Directive 2005/29/EC approximates the laws of the Member States on unfair commercial practices, including unfair advertising, which directly harm consumers' economic interests and thereby indirectly harm the economic interests of legitimate competitors. In order to ease the application and interpretation of this Directive, the European Commission has published the following documents: the Communication to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee “On the application of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive: Achieving a high level of consumer protection - Building trust in the Internal Market”; and the First Report on the application of Directive 2005/29/EC of …

"El Tjue Aporta Una Nueva Precisión Sobre El Concepto ‘Declaración De Reducción Del Riesgo De Enfermedad’ En El Etiquetado Alimentario: La Sentencia 'Green – Swan' De 18 De Julio De 2013", Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

El Reglamento (UE) nº 1924/2006 armoniza las disposiciones legales, reglamentarias y administrativas de los Estados miembros referentes a las declaraciones nutricionales y las relativas a la salud a fin de garantizar el funcionamiento eficaz del mercado interior y, al mismo tiempo, tiende a proporcionar un alto nivel de protección del consumidor. En 2012, el 'Nejvyšší správní soud' (Tribunal Supremo Administrativo de la República Checa) remitió al TJUE un petición de decisión prejudicial referente a la interpretación de varios artículos de dicha normativa comunitaria. El órgano jurisdiccional remitente preguntaba, en particular, si el artículo 2, apartado 2, número 6, del citado …

Consumer Watchdog: The Fcc’S Proposed Rulemaking To Help Consumers Avoid Bill Shock, Cameron Robinson

Federal Communications Law Journal

This Note discusses the proposed rulemaking by the FCC in order to empower consumers against "bill shock." Bill shock is described as what a consumer experiences when he or she receives a bill for his or her cellular phone that is much higher than expected, usually on account of roaming charges. This Note will argue in favor of rulemaking by the FCC and explain how the consumer will be empowered against the confusion of the current system.

An Outsider's View Of Dassonville And Cassis De Dijon: On Interpretation And Policy, Donald Regan

Articles

My interest in the EC law on free movement of goods is long-standing and more than casual, but much less than scholarly. So I am delighted to contribute some remarks without pretending to expertise.

Study On Online Hotel Reservation Systems, Frank Alleweldt, Klaus Tonner, Marc Mcdonald

Articles

This study, conducted by Civic Consulting, looks at both pre-contractual and contractual matters concerning online hotel reservation systems, examines relevant Community rules, identifies gaps and, where needed, discusses possible policy options. Key conclusions The study shows that the impact of Community law on online hotel

International Developments In Consumer Financial Services Law 2007-2008, Gregory M. Duhl

Faculty Scholarship

This Survey reviews international consumer financial services law developments in 2007 and 2008 (through August 15, 2008) in the areas of payment systems, the European Convention of Human Rights, insolvency laws, and consumer privacy. This review makes the contrast between the European and U.S. approaches to consumer regulation apparent, in particular the EU preference for direct regulation as compared to the tradition of private remedies in the United States.

“La Nueva Directiva Sobre El Crédito Al Consumo O El Discreto Encanto De Una Armonización Total (Con Muchas Excepciones)”, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

En los considerandos segundo y tercero de la Directiva objeto de nuestro estudio se hace referencia a los resultados insatisfactorios de la armonización mínima consagrada por la Directiva 87/102/CEE. En este sentido, el legislador comunitario, refiriéndose a las divergencias legislativas detectadas, declara lo siguiente:

«La situación de hecho y de derecho resultante de estas disparidades nacionales produce en algunos casos distorsiones de la competencia entre prestamistas dentro de la Comunidad y entorpece el funcionamiento del mercado interior cuando las disposiciones obligatorias adoptadas por los Estados miembros son más restrictivas que las establecidas en la Directiva 87/102/CEE. Asimismo, reduce las posibilidades …