The study is part of the ongoing Fitness Check of EU consumer and marketing law, focusing on the Consumer Sales and Guarantees (CSG) Directive 1999/44/EC which is a minimum harmonisation Directive. The study assessed the costs and benefits of Member States going beyond the minimum rules laid down by the Directive, as well as the impacts of potential full harmonisation and alignment of EU rules for different sales channels (distance versus face-to-face sales channels). It specifically focused on four elements of the CSG Directive, namely, the two-year legal guarantee (longer in five Member States), notification obligation within a specific period (not applicable in seven Member States), the six-month period for the reversal of burden of proof (longer in three Member States) and a free choice of remedies (applicable in five Member States) as opposed to a hierarchy. The study finds strong benefits of alignment of the rules for face-to-face and distance sales. Impacts of harmonisation and alignment are likely to vary across Member States. Alignment of rules for face-to-face and distance channels and full harmonisation would have an overall positive impact on consumers and businesses in the Single Market.

This book is the first to provide a critical investigation of EU better regulation from the perspective of EU contract law. The Commission's 'New Deal for EU Consumers' is one of the first EU contract law initiatives to implement both the newly revised Better Regulation Guidelines and the newly introduced combined evaluation of multiple Directives in the form of a 'fitness check'. This offers an opportunity to explore difficulties and best practices at a national level, as demonstrated by experience with the EU's Unfair Terms Directive. Both the fitness check and the impact assessment accompanying the New Deal should facilitate critical reflection on the design of EU contract law. This book addresses key questions. Do impact assessments favour business interests at the expense of a high level of consumer protection? Is the evaluation of EU contract law and the analysis in impact assessments in line with scientific standards? Has the fitness check revealed difficulties and success stories with EU measures at national level, and thereby facilitated an in-depth scrutiny of the design of EU contract law? Ultimately, is the potential of better regulation being realised?

This comprehensive Research Handbook examines the continuum between private ordering and state regulation in the lex mercatoria, highlighting constancy and change in this dynamic and evolving system in order to offer an in-depth discussion of international commercial contract law. International scholars from a range of jurisdictions and legal cultures across Africa, North America and Europe, dissect a plethora of contract types, including sale, insurance, shipping, credit, negotiable instruments and agency against the backdrop of key legal regimes commonly chosen in international agreements.

This edited volume covers the challenges currently faced by consumer law in Europe and the United States, ranging from fundamental theoretical questions, such as what goals consumer law should pursue, to practical questions raised by disclosure requirements, the General Data Protection Regulation and technology advancements. With governments around the world enacting powerful new regulations concerning consumers, consumer law has become an important topic in the economic analysis of law. Intended to protect consumers, these regulations typically seek to do so by giving them tools to make better decisions, or by limiting the consequences of their bad decisions. Legal scholars are divided, however, regarding the efficacy and effects of these regulations; some call for certain policies to be abolished, while others support a regulatory expansion.

On 8 October 2008 the European Commission submitted the proposal for a new Consumer rights directive to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. This paper discusses the type of harmonisation that is foreseen in the proposed directive. It first addresses the choice between minimum and full harmonisation and the question whether there is actually support for the shift from minimum harmonisation to full harmonisation. Subsequently, an attempt is made to rebut the Commission's argument in favour of full harmonisation. The remainder of the paper is dedicated to the consequences of full harmonisation for general contract law, the level of consumer protection offered under the proposed directive, and the possibility to shift to targeted full harmonisation of some areas, and minimum harmonisation for other.

In Rethinking EU Consumer Law, the authors analyse the development of EU consumer law on the basis of a number of clear themes, which are then traced through specific areas. Recurring themes include the artificiality of the EU’s consumer image, the problems created by the drive towards maximum harmonisation, and the unexpected effects EU Consumer Law has had on national law. The book argues that EU Consumer Law has the potential of enhancing the protecting of consumers throughout the EU and could offer a model for consumer law elsewhere in the world, but in order to unlock this potential, there needs to be a rethink with regard to the EU’s approach to consumer law and policy.