Through its case law, the CJEU has developed and established various legal institutions and principles guaranteeing the effectiveness of EU law including consumer protection law. Although much time has passed since the CJEU required from Member States' courts to give the “Community (now: Union) law its full effect within the framework of the judicial systems of the Member States”, more recent cases demonstrate the serious struggles of the courts when it comes to the enforcement of the EU consumer protection law. The effectiveness of the judicial protection of consumer protection rights is sometimes undermined by the most basic questions, such as who qualifies a person as a “consumer” in a national civil law dispute, the court or the claimant? Moreover, recent studies of the European Commission demonstrate that the national courts are barely aware of their duty in an ex officio application of the EU consumer protection law. With the exception of the courts' duty to examine the unfairness of contract terms in business-to-consumer (B2C) relations of their own motion, they seem to be reluctant to the idea of an ex officio application of consumer protection law. This paper examines the position of courts in this new environment of allegedly more effective enforcement mechanisms and questions to what extent the Member States' courts are obliged to apply the EU consumer protection law ex officio.

The book focusses on the enforcement of consumer law in order to identify commonalities and best practices across nations. It is composed of twenty-eight contributions from national rapporteurs to the IACL Congress in Montevideo in 2016 and the introductory comparative general report. The national contributors are drawn from across the globe, with representation from Africa (1), Asia (5), Europe (15), Oceania (2) and the Americas (5). The general report proposes a general introduction to the question of enforcement and effectiveness of consumer law. It then proceeds to identify the variety of ways in which national legislatures approach this question and the diversity of mechanisms put in place to address it. The general report uses examples drawn from the reports to illustrate common approaches and to identify more original or distinct unique approaches, taking into account the reported strengths and weaknesses of each. The general report consistently points readers to particular national reports on specific issues, inviting readers to consult these individual contributions for more details. The national contributions deal with the following areas: the national legal framework for consumer protection, the general design of the enforcement mechanism, the number and characteristics of consumer complaints and disputes, the use of courts and specialized agencies for the enforcement of consumer law, the role of consumer organizations and of private regulation in the enforcement of consumer law, the place of collective redress mechanism and of alternative dispute resolution modes, the sanctions for breaches of consumer law and the nature of external relations or cooperation with other countries or international organizations. These enriching national and international perspectives offer a comprehensive overview of the current state of consumer law around the globe.

This book explores the role of Article 47 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights--which guarantees the right to effective judicial protection--in consumer cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union, as well as civil courts in Spain and the Netherlands.

This insightful and timely book provides a comparative assessment of selected legal issues emerging from the EU legal context which impact profoundly on the national legal systems. It argues that judicial interaction can answer complex legal questions relating to the implementation of the EU Charter.

Collective redress has gained momentum in Europe and North America. Legal reforms are driven by different institutional conditions but show a limited degree of convergence. In this book, seventeen contributions from the US, Canada, and the Member States of the European Union put the interplay of public enforcement and private collective judicial enforcement into perspective. The parameters of analysis are the constitutional dimension (i.e. three multi-level systems compared US, EC, and Canada, vertically: allocation of powers between levels and distinction between regulation and private law and administrative control versus judicial control; horizontally: degree of harmonization, trans-border litigation, choice of law), the institutional dimension (the players, regulatory and judges, private organization and lawyers) and the substantive dimension (regulation through administrative law versus regulation through tort or contract law, standard setting (strict liability versus negligence), remedies (injunctions and damages). These three parameters are then broken down into five sections: general comparison, the public/private enforcement divide, remedies concerning the distinction between injunction and damages as well as between class actions and group actions, negotiation and adjudication, trans-border litigation and international private law. The final chapter develops prospects to indicate the way ahead.

One of the most important EU consumer protection directives of the past decade, the 2005 Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, or UCPD, is brought under examination in this stimulating volume. Bringing together leading experts in the comparative law and consumer law domain, the book discusses the impact of the Directive and whether the many possible issues identified at its inception have been borne out in practice. Divided into four parts of 'Implementation, Approximation and Harmonization', 'Vulnerability', 'The UCP Directive and Other Regimes', and finally 'Enforcement', the volume examines the various policy developments, the growing body of case law, the decisions of relevant national enforcement authorities, as well as the legislative debates which have surrounded the implementation of the UCPD in Member States. This book provides a valuable assessment of the impact of a major EU directive almost ten years after its adoption, and as such will be of interest to academics, legal practitioners and the judiciary working in the areas of European and Consumer law.

In the internet age, the need for effective consumer law enforcement has arguably never been greater. This timely book is a comparative law and economic analysis of the changing landscape of EU consumer law enforcement policy. EU member states are moving away from purely public or private law enforcement and now appear to be moving towards a more mixed approach, not least due to European legislation. This book reflects on the need for and creation of efficient enforcement designs. It examines the various economic factors according to which the efficiency of different enforcement mechanisms can be assessed. Hypothetical case scenarios within package travel and misleading advertising, dealing with substantial individual harm and trifling and widespread harm are used to illustrate various consumer law problems. Design suggestions on how to optimally mix enforcement mechanisms for these case scenarios are developed. The findings are then used as a benchmark to assess real life situations in countries with different enforcement traditions - the Netherlands, Sweden and England. The book is of value to both researchers and policy-makers working in the area of consumer protection.