Consumer Sales Law in Poland: Changing the Law,Changing Attitudes

The purpose of this paper is to show what the future implementation of the Consumer Sales Directive by Poland may involve. The analysis focuses on the substantive legal and other changes necessary to give full effect to the Directive. Polish guarantees law is compared with the Directive in order to identify similarities and divergences and highlight areas in need of reform. A brief account of the extra-legal factors affecting the position of consumers in post-Communist countries supplements the legal analysis in order to show what sort of reforms are necessary. It will be demonstrated that the black letter laws do not need as much change as certain other issues, such as political, economic, and social factors, and, most of all, the idiosyncrasies of the legal profession. Finally, the role of the European Communities in the process of harmonisation of post-Socialist laws with the European Union standards is briefly analysed. Although the analysis of guarantee laws is focused on Poland, the reader is encouraged to see the wider picture of post-Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and the specificity of the position of consumers there.     

消费信用与消费者破产研究

消费信用与消费者破产之间存在密切的联系。进入消费者破产程序的消费者必然有无法偿还的债务,而消费者只有接受了消费信用,才可能成为债务人,因此,消费信用是消费者破产的根本原因。消费信用越容易获得,消费者过度负债的可能性就越高,相应地,消费者对宽松的消费者破产制度的需求就越强烈。从消费市场的繁荣程度和消费者破产数量的关系来看,二者是成正比关系的。消费者破产制度作为消费信用的回收制度将影响消费信用的供给与需求,促进信用体系的建设。消费信用在我国进入快速发展时代,从控制社会危机的角度来看,消费者破产制度的建立已经迫在眉睫。     

Changing Definitions of Fresh Start in U.S. Bankruptcy Law

Consumer bankruptcy law in the United States has been distinguished by its commitment to the fresh start concept, enabling the debtor to discharge indebtedness and begin a new economic life. In this paper recent developments respecting four important limitations on the scope of the fresh start are examined. The four limitations are: (1) the debtor must give up non-exempt property; (2) in some parts of the country debtors are effectively required to complete 3 to 5 year debt repayment plans (called Chapter 13 plans) before receiving a discharge; (3) certain debts are "excepted" from discharge; and (4) many rights of secured creditors in collateral are preserved despite discharge.The author concludes that, with respect to the first three limitations, debtor's rights have been restricted over the past 15 years approximately. In the conclusion possible reasons for these restrictions in scope of the debtor's fresh start are discussed. The author discusses the tremendous increase in consumer bankruptcy filing rates in the United States but concludes that the best evidence indicates that increased filings are not a good reason to restrict the scope of the fresh start. He suggests that one important factor for increasing limitations on the fresh start has been a reduced political commitment to values that historically have justified the granting of a discharge to consumer debtors.     

游离于公司法、破产法之间的债权人保护

如何加强对债权人的保护是学术界一直在研究的论题,有种观点认为公司的管理者在公司资不抵债时应当由对股东负责转为对债权人负责;公司的主要目的是为股东创造收益,破产的目的是保护债权人的利益。因此,应当废除公司领域中对债权人的保护,使其尽快回归到专门为债权人服务的破产领域,让公司法和破产法各司其职,使股东利益和债权人的保护得到强化。     

Models of Consumer Bankruptcy: Implications for Research and Policy

The author explores three models of individual bankruptcy law which might provide some guidance for analysing policy and for posing further research questions in relation to bankruptcy as a legal and social institution. The models are: (1) Bankruptcy law as a response to deviant behaviour; (2) Bankruptcy as consumer protection; (3) Bankruptcy as social welfare law. Some tentative thoughts are also offered on the comparative analysis of consumer bankruptcy as a focus for understanding relationships between legal and social norms.     

Consumer Law and Policy in Ghana

This paper presents a picture of the landscape of consumer law and policy in Ghana and reviews the scope of protection of consumer interests with specific regard to product safety and liability, consumer sales, and telecommunication services. It assesses the legislative and policy framework on consumer contracts, product safety, and unfair commercial practices; discusses the role of national agencies in enforcing safety standards; and highlights some critical consumer issues in telecommunications service delivery. The paper examines the regulatory framework on other consumer issues such as advertising, labelling, and marketing of consumer products; terms and conditions of consumer contracts; and after sales services including the enforcement of guarantees, warranties, refund, and return policies. The paper also discusses the extent of external influence on the development of consumer law and policy in Ghana and reviews the level of interaction with other legal systems and supranational bodies in the three focal areas. The contribution also explores areas of Ghana’s consumer protection framework which could benefit from guidance from the EU transnational model on consumer protection and makes recommendations for the enhancement of the emerging legislative and policy regime on consumer protection in Ghana.     

Consumer Law and Policy in Kenya

This contribution seeks to examine the consumer protection law and policy in Kenya with a view to understand how consumer issues, such as product safety and product liability, are addressed as well as the remedies for defective goods. It also seeks to understand the available provisions on the safety standards of consumer products, such as mobile phones, by highlighting the consumer issues that arise for mobile phone users with particular reference to the services provided by mobile network operators (MNOs) – i.e., the financial services and products – and how the consumer protection regime has addressed them. It will conclude by examining how the Kenyan consumer law has manifested itself, either by its influence on other states’ consumer laws and policies or the way(s) in which its own laws have been influenced by foreign and supranational consumer laws. References will be made with regard to the influence by the European Commission (EC) Product Safety Directive, the EC Product Liability Directive, the EC Consumer Sales Directive and the EC Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. Furthermore, this contribution will highlight the challenges encountered with respect to the achievement of a consumer protection regime in Kenya, as a result of the fragmentation of the law and policies.     

Consumer Protection Law in Cuba

Journal of Consumer Policy - The authors address the origins and evolution of consumer law in Cuba and the influence of European Union consumer law on development in Cuba. The transition from the...     

Innovation and EU Consumer Law

Recent consumer policy initiatives, primarily at the domestic, but also at the European, level have emphasised the need to ensure that consumer law not only protects consumers, but also encourages competition and supports innovation. The purpose of this paper is to offer some preliminary thoughts on the relationship between consumer protection and innovation, and to consider the potential impact of the main consumer law directives adopted by the European Union on this relationship.     

Consumer Bankruptcy Stigma: Understanding Relationships with Familiarity and Perceived Control

Bankruptcy stigma is commonly thought to influence debtors' bankruptcy filing decisions. Despite its importance, researchers have not collected direct quantitative measures of bankruptcy stigma, either in terms of attitudes toward bankruptcy or evaluations of filers. Across two empirical studies, we find that (1) attitudes toward bankruptcy and bankruptcy filers are less negative among those with firsthand bankruptcy experience; (2) bankruptcy stigma is a multidimensional construct that includes morality‐, warmth‐, and competence‐related elements; and (3) consistent with psychological models of blame, filers who are perceived to have more control over the circumstances leading to their bankruptcy are more highly stigmatized. By directly investigating bankruptcy stigma, this research can be used to inform models of consumer decisions about bankruptcy filings and bankruptcy policy.     

Influences of Comparative Law in Uruguayan Consumer Protection Law

Journal of Consumer Policy - Uruguay was the last country in MERCOSUR to pass a consumer Protection Law in 2000. The purpose of this article is to analyse the origins and influences of the Law on...     

消费者增权理论与我国消费者权益保护法的完善

消费者增权理论是近年来西方社会科学领域关注的热点问题之一,在消费者增权理论中,信息供给型增权和制度供给型增权是两种主要模式。我国现阶段的消费模式和消费者权益保护实践表明,制度供给型消费者增权可以更好地保护消费者利益。所以,从消费者增权理论出发,完善消费者权益保护法律体系,是增进消费者利益保护和实现消费和谐的重要举措。     

Price Intransparency,Consumer Decision Making and European Consumer Law

Price comparison is a basic element of competition. For comparison to work, at least prices need to be transparent. Moreover, price is usually a focal point in consumer thinking and deciding on transactions. Hence, obfuscating prices can be detrimental to consumers. Therefore, it is vital for policymakers to know how transparent pricing is in reality. Commercial practices involving price intransparency can be detrimental to consumer decision making and may be associated with market failure. So, legislative intervention to ensure price transparency is sometimes warranted. Suppliers may disclose and frame pricing information in such ways as to influence consumers. For some suppliers, advantages may be gained by obfuscating price—through practices ranging from the outright hiding of price terms in the small print to subtle ways of throwing in gifts or adding charges during the vending process. Do consumers appreciate the implications of the fact that by framing price in different ways suppliers actually try to influence their demand for products? And how does the law broadly speaking respond to problems of price intransparency? In this article, behavioural science insights are combined with a legal analysis of European consumer law in order to chart some of the detrimental influences of price intransparency on the consumer decision-making process and to answer whether and to what extent European consumer law addresses these issues. In doing so, this article first reviews research from consumer psychology, marketing, and behavioural law, and economics regarding the influence of presentation, framing, and transparency of price on the consumer decision-making process. Subsequently, it describes and evaluates the legal framework offered by European consumer law and how this framework responds to practices of price intransparency. Particular problematic pricing techniques are identified and discussed. In conclusion, attention is drawn to the disadvantages of the increasing full harmonization character of European consumer law for combating price intransparency at Member State level.     

Consumer Law and the Environment: From Consumer to Citizen

This paper addresses the question of the relationship between consumer law and the protection of the environment. In contradiction to those who see the goals of consumer protection and environmental protection as being close to each other, this paper presents the relationship as one of conflict rather than one of harmony. Consumer law as an expression of the consumer society promotes goals which sometimes run counter to the environmental interest. This clearly comes to the fore when analysing the main consumer rights and their relationship to environmental issues. However, despite this basic incompatibility, the book of consumer law also contains some small stories of environmentally constructive behaviour. The telling of these good stories would require us to transcend the boundaries of traditional consumer law and to replace "the consumer" by "the citizen" who is interested not only in his own consumption but in all aspects of social life. In support of this development certain consumer law measures can be used to raise the awareness of consumers regarding environmental issues.     

Rectifying Consumer Protection Law and Establishing of a Consumer Court in Indonesia

Journal of Consumer Policy - In 2001, Indonesia established the Consumer Dispute Resolution Body (CDRB) based on the instruction of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) in 1999 to provide consumers...     

Guidelines for Consumer Policy in Central and Eastern Europe

Journal of Consumer Policy -     

Dissemination of Consumer Law and Policy in Tanzania

This paper discusses the current consumer protection laws status in Tanzania with special focus on selected areas, including product safety and product liability, quality of goods and services, and telecommunication consumer protection. A case study on status of consumer protection in Tanzania is rendered to reveal the realities of consumer protection in the country. The paper also reflects the desired state of consumer protection in the country and how it can be achieved. Furthermore, the paper highlights the influence laws from other jurisdictions and international organisations have on the Tanzania consumer protection laws and regime.     

Consumer protection in Bangladesh: Law and practice

In the least developed third world countries, the most important consumer right is the right to satisfy basic needs.In this paper, the author describes the legal foundations for consumer protection in Bangladesh, foundations which attach the highest importance to the nutritional state of the people and to measures for protection of consumers from products, processes, and services which are hazardous to their health. Some of the laws are pre-1971, the year of independence of Bangladesh; others have been promulgated in more recent years, though not all of the latter have yet been fully implemented.The author also describes the history of the consumer movement in the country, and in particular the work carried out by the Consumers' Association of Bangladesh. The difficulties that consumer organizations meet in a country such as Bangladesh are multifold. Some of the most formidable problems have to do with the fact that legislation is scattered, that consumers themselves cannot initiate legal action against wrong-doers, and that public officials as well as political leaders are often unapproachable or more interested in caring for the interests of business.

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Verbraucherschutz in Bangladesch: Rechtliche und praktische Situation

Zusammenfassung In den am wenigsten entwickelten Ländern der Dritten Welt ist das wichtigste Verbraucherrecht das Recht auf die Befriedigung der Grundbedürfnisse. Der Autor beschreibt die rechtlichen Grundlagen für Verbraucherschutz in Bangladesch, die der Ernährung der Bevölkerung und Ma\nahmen zum Schutz vor gesundheitsgefährdenden Produkten, Herstellungsverfahren und Dienstleistungen die höchste Bedeutung beimessen. Einige der Gesetze stammen aus der Zeit vor 1971, dem Jahr, in dem Bangladesch die Unabhängigkeit erlangt hat. Andere sind in jüngerer Zeit verkündet worden, wenn auch nicht alle bereits volle Gültigkeit erlangt haben. Der Autor beschreibt darüber hinaus die Geschichte der Verbraucherbewegung in seinem Land und zeichnet insbesondere die Arbeit nach, die von der Verbrauchervereinigung durchgeführt wurde. Die Schwierigkeiten, denen sich Verbraucherorganisationen in einem Land wie Bangladesch gegenübersehen, sind vielfältig. Einige der ernsterzunehmenden Probleme haben es mit der Tatsache zu tun, da\ die Gesetzgebung lückenhaft ist, da\ Konsumenten gegen Fehlverhalten nicht selbst rechtlich vorgehen können und da\ staatliche Stellen und politische Führer oft unerreichbar sind und im übrigen mehr im Interesse der Unternehmen tätig sind.