This book covers technologies that pose new challenges for consumer policy, creative developments that can help protect consumers’ economic interests, innovative approaches to addressing perennial consumer concerns, and the challenges entailed by emerging ways of creating and delivering consumer products and services. In addition, it reflects on past successes and failures of consumer law and policy, explores opportunities for moving consumer law in a different direction, and discusses potential threats to consumer welfare, especially in connection with the changing political landscape in many parts of the world. Several chapters examine consumer law in individual countries, while others have an international focus.

This book mentions technologies that present new difficulties for consumer law, imaginative improvements that can assist with securing customers' financial advantages, inventive ways to deal with lasting purchaser concerns, and the difficulties involved by suggesting methods of making and conveying buyer items and administrations. Also, it ponders past triumphs and disappointments of sconsumer law and strategy, investigates prospects for moving customer law an alternate way, and examines likely dangers to consumer government assistance, particularly regarding the changing political scene in many parts of the world. A few parts inspect consumer law in singular nations, while others have a global core interest. The digital change that is in progress in our economies and social orders has furnished customers with an abundance of business openings while likewise bringing various new and arising risks. This report gives an outline of chosen key advantages and difficulties faced by digital shoppers. It centers around different areas of significance to strategists including: changing policy to quickly evolving innovations, reinforcing cross-line co-activity, improving the effect of product reviews in the advanced age, shopers goals and reviews, the job of consumer security organizations in accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals, and securing vulnerable purchasers in the computerized age.

This is a time of extraordinary change: technology is transforming interpersonal and business communication, including marketing and advertising to consumers. Products are evolving as a result of innovation. Even the way consumers are paying for goods and services is being revolutionised, as electronic payment systems serve up new and inventive ways to exchange money. Increasingly, people of all ages are using wireless phones and devices for communicating, for information gathering, and for entertainment- in all types of locations. And, as new wireless technologies are introduced, so too are new and expanded ways to get information and be entertained via your wireless phone or device. This book examines ways to adapt consumer protection strategies to ensure that all consumers, including the vulnerable, are equally well served. Applying existing policies and creating new ones is also looked at to address emerging challenges regarding new technologies and products that may be unfamiliar to consumers. This book also discusses how the ever-expanding number of marketing channels in the world-wide marketplace will be monitored for instances of deception of unfairness and finally, the collaboration with law enforcers from around the world will be examined to protect consumers in the global marketplace.

To date, there have been few theoretical inquiries into the relationship between the technological innovation and basic objectives of consumer protection laws. This book addresses this need by considering the impact of technological innovation on the foundations of consumer advocacy, contracting behaviour, control over intellectual capital and information privacy. The collection presents a unique and timely perspective on these issues. The authors, internationally renowned experts, from diverse areas such as consumer issues in technology markets, contract, and intellectual property provide a fresh perspective on these topics. Contributions provide novel approaches to the question of what consumer protection might consist of in the context of technological innovation. The book will be a valuable resource to academics and researchers in law and public policy and is easily accessible to graduate and undergraduate students working in these areas.

Since nowadays a significant number of consumers are involved in the innovation process, some crucial legal issues are arising from consumer law. Even a “pro-sumer”, who appears to be a paradigmatic player in the innovation process, is usually not “professional” in a way that precludes him from mandatory consumer protection. According to European consumer law, any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession should be deemed to be a “consumer”. In contrast anyone else who is acting for those purposes should be considered as a “trader”. So in the majority of cases the legal entity who runs an open and user innovation platform is a “trader”, while most of its members are consumers. Against this background this paper examines specific consumer law issues of open and user innovation. As open and user innovation is a multinational and cross-cultural phenomenon it is not limited to specific national jurisdiction. Hence, open innovation communities usually create their own set of social norms and legal rules governing access, membership and policy issues. In the light of European consumer law these communities run the risk of a (legally) void set of rules, because of a deficient level of consumer protection. Thus, the compliance with consumer law is not only a matter of good practice; in fact it is essential for the prosperity of innovation communities. This (working) paper is based on comparative and doctrinal legal research involving economic and management research on open and user innovation. It deals with different paradigms of consumer protection in EC law with special regard to open and user innovation. The main issue addressed in this paper is the influence of mandatory provisions regarding the competent jurisdiction, applicable law and consumer protection on the governance of open innovation communities. Preliminary findings show that there is need to encourage the implementation of a consumer law compliance system especially by open innovation communities to identify, correct and prevent breaches of the law.