Consumer Protection Law Commons^™

Análisis Económico De Las Sanciones Administrativas En El Derecho De La Competencia Y Del Consumo, Camilo Ossa

Camilo Ossa

Encontrará el lector una revisión de un aspecto puntual relacionado con la posibilidad que investigaciones originadas por infracciones al consumidor puedan ser sancionadas vía competencia, con el fin de aprovechar el mayor valor de la sanción, de lo cual se hará una revisión de los aspectos jurídicos que ello implica, además de una propuesta, utilizando herramientas del Análisis Económico del Derecho, que nos puede llevar a convertir una una sanción que se cree “pequeña” en eficiente, siendo óptima para el cumplimiento del fin propuesto en la misma ley. Son dos aspectos puntuales relacionados, primero, con la parte teórica que hay …

The Australian Consumer Law In The Digital Sphere, Francina Cantatore

Francina Cantatore

Extract: Application of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL) Emerging issues – the Internet and Social Media Misleading or Deceptive Conduct (s 18) False or Misleading Representations about Goods or Services (s 29) Enforcement challenges and solutions

Saving For Homeownership

Patricia A. McCoy

No abstract provided.

Balancing Consumer Protection And Commercial Viability: The Impact Of The New Hardship Provisions In The Nccp Enhancements Act, Francina Cantatore

Francina Cantatore

This paper considers the impact of the new Hardship Provisions in the Consumer Credit Legislation Amendment (Enhancements) Bill 2012 (“the Bill”) on credit providers. It focuses on, firstly, identifying the scope of the amendments, which are distinctly consumer orientated; secondly, it examines problematic issues arising from the wording and application of the new provisions, including a discussion of refusals of and disagreements on hardship variations; and, lastly, it considers the impact of complaint fees charged by the External Dispute Resolution schemes, Financial Ombudsman Services (“FOS”) and Credit Ombudsman Services (“COSL”) [now Credit and Investments Ombudsman (“CIO”)].

Avoiding The Pitfalls: Advertising In A Competitive Market, Francina Cantatore

Francina Cantatore

The consumer credit industry is a competitive market which is facing challenging times in view of more stringent regulation in recent times. Advertising is an essential ingredient in generating business in this environment, thus an awareness of acceptable advertising parameters is important for credit providers. Not only do organisations face civil and criminal sanctions for transgressions of the legislation, but directors and managers may be personally liable for misleading or deceptive advertising. This paper deals with a discussion of advertising legislation and current developments; advertising interest rates and requirements for comparison rates; false or misleading advertising and ASIC Guidelines; including …

Fatca Compliance Of The Mena Region, William Byrnes

William H. Byrnes

No abstract provided.

Sacrificing Privacy For Convenience: The Need For Stricter Ftc Regulations In An Age Of Smartphone Surveillance, Ashton Mckinnon

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This comment aims to focus on the most frequently used connector that consumers treasure not only for convenience but also as a lifelong necessity - the smartphone. The FTC needs to enforce federally mandated guidelines that will allow the consumer to use technology without the technology using the consumer. Part II of this comment focuses on the type of information that can be collected by various companies, service providers, and agencies from an individual's smartphone, and the intentions of these collectors behind use of this information. Part III evaluates how applications (apps) contribute to this scheme, and, specifically, apps' recordkeeping …

The Federal Restore Act And Its Impact On The Gulf States Following The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Sara Mammarella

Sara Mammarella

On April 20, 2010, what has been described as “the worst oil spill in U.S. history,” the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, occurred off the Louisiana coast, affecting a five-state area in the Gulf region (Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas), dumping an estimated 4.9 billion barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The harms that occurred were widespread and devastating: eleven people were killed, 1,000 miles of coastline was degraded, ocean life and beaches were destroyed, and the local economy of the region was adversely impacted, especially fishing and tourism industries. In response, Congress passed the federal RESTORE …

Saving Charitable Settlements, Christine P. Bartholomew

Journal Articles

This Article defies the conventional wisdom that all charitable distributions from a class action settlement fund are types of cy pres. Instead, it proposes a radical delineation between “cy pres remainders” (meaning settlement funds left over after individual monetary distributions) and “charitable settlements” (meaning money initially distributed to charities as part of class action settlements). While both have cy pres roots, these two settlement structures have been conflated, jeopardizing the potential utility of charitable settlements. After articulating more precise nomenclature for these distinct distribution methods, this Article justifies why we must preserve charitable settlements. This defense is particularly timely, as …

The Characteristics Of Markets That Facilitate Consumer Exploitation, Joel Stonedale

Mercer Law Review

Behavioral economists have offered plentiful evidence that consumers sometimes deviate from rational economic decision-making in predictable ways due to cognitive biases. The effect of the biases, however, varies greatly across markets. Scholars have identified several markets as particularly exploitative, including the markets for subprime mortgages, credit cards, cell phone services, video rentals, and retail rebates What separates these markets from the markets for thousands of other complex products, such as computers and cars, in which consumers appear able to understand their preferences and the product well enough to drive the market toward efficiency? This Article addresses the problem with consumer …

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 …

Dissecting The Contents Of Law Of Indonesia On Halal Product Assurance, Aal Lukmanul Hakim

Indonesia Law Review

Indonesia with its majority Moslem population and even the biggest Moslem nation in the world has obligations to its citizens to assurance the halal products (halal) for consumption and/or used as a constitutional obligation to be enforceable and applicable. The constitutional obligation is granted in the form of legal certainty covering the halalness of all products either to those useable, consumed and/or utilized by the society. Upon the legalization and enactment of Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 33 year 2014 regarding Halal Product Assurance is the evidence of constitutionally protection commitment. Having this Halal Product Assurance Law, the …

Us Supreme Court To Weigh Future Of "No Harm" Class-Action Menace, David L. Wallace

David L Wallace

No abstract provided.

It Takes Time: The Need To Extend The Seal Period For Qui Tam Complaints Filed Under The False Claims Act, Joel D. Hesch

Seattle University Law Review

Each year, 10% of all federal government spending is lost due to fraud, which adds up to over $350 billion a year. Unfortunately, many well-meaning federal judges are inadvertently making it easier for wrongdoers to retain these ill-gotten gains by unnecessarily cutting short the investigative time for the government to evaluate fraud allegations brought by whistleblowers under the False Claims Act (FCA). The FCA is the federal government’s primary tool to recover funds obtained through the submission of false claims. Because the government is unable to detect most fraud cases absent the help of whistleblowers, Congress included qui tam provisions …

Invisible Labor, Invisible Play: Online Gold Farming And The Boundary Between Jobs And Games, Julian Dibbell

Julian Dibbell

When does work become play, and play work? Courts have considered the question in a variety of economic contexts, from student athletes seeking recognition as employees to professional blackjack players seeking to be treated by casinos just like casual players. Here I apply the question to a relatively novel context: that of online gold farming, a gray-market industry in which wage-earning workers, largely based in China, are paid to play online fantasy games (MMOs) that reward them with virtual items their employers sell for profit to the same games’ casual players. Gold farming is clearly a job (and under the …

Helping Buyers Beware: The Need For Supervision Of Big Retail, Rory Van Loo

Faculty Scholarship

Since the financial crisis, consumer regulators have closely supervised sellers of credit cards and home mortgages to stamp out anticompetitive practices. Supervision programs give financial regulators ongoing access to sophisticated firms' internal data outside the litigation process. This often enables examiners to identify and correct harmful conduct more rapidly and effectively than would be possible using publicly available information and cumbersome legal tools.

Consumers spend four times more on retail goods than on financial products. The retail sector’s dominant firms — such as Amazon, Walmart, Unilever, and Kraft — employ large teams of quantitative experts armed with advanced information technologies, …

España: Confusión Y Desconcierto Sobre La Información Relativa A Los Alimentos Que Se Presentan Sin Envasar Para La Venta Al Consumidor Final, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

El 4 de marzo de 2015, se publicó el Real Decreto 126/2015 por el que se aprueba la Norma general relativa a la información alimentaria de los alimentos que se presentan sin envasar para la venta al consumidor final y a las colectividades, de los envasados en los lugares de venta a petición del comprador, y de los envasados por los titulares del comercio al por menor.

La Norma mantiene los requisitos de información alimentaria que para los alimentos sin envasar ya establecía el Real Decreto 1334/1999, adaptándolos a los nuevos requisitos que fija el Reglamento (UE) Nº 1169/2011. Al …

Making Paypal Pay: Regulation E And Its Application To Alternative Payment Services, Eric Pacifici

Duke Law & Technology Review

In light of the growth of data breaches in both occurrence and scale, it is more important than ever for consumers to be aware of the protections afforded to them under the law regarding electronic fund transfers and alternative payment services. Additionally, it is important that agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”), charged with the protection of unsuspecting and often defenseless consumers, are carefully monitoring these protections to ensure they keep pace with the technological evolution of the payment services they regulate. Alternative payment services, such as PayPal, are conducting an enormous number of payments and providing an …

Internet Payment Blockades: Sopa And Pipa In Disguise? Or Worse?, Stacey Dogan

Shorter Faculty Works

The law of intermediary liability in intellectual property reflects a constant struggle for balance. On the one hand, rights owners frustrated by the game of whack-a-mole have good reason to look for more efficient ways to stanch the flow of infringement. While this concern is not a new one, the global reach and decentralization of the Internet have exacerbated it. On the flipside, consumers, technology developers, and others fret about the impact of broad liability: it can impede speech, limit competition, and impose a drag on economic sectors with only a peripheral relationship to infringement. As the Supreme Court put …

Charging The Poor: Criminal Justice Debt & Modern-Day Debtors’ Prisons, Neil Sobol

Neil L Sobol

No abstract provided.