Consumer Protection Law in Ethiopia: The Normative Regime and the Way Forward

The 1960 Civil Code of Ethiopia and other laws have been providing a certain level of protection to consumers until the enactment of laws – in 2010 and 2014 – that expressly deal with consumer protection. This article examines consumer protection in Ethiopia with prime attention to the Trade Competition and Consumer Protection Proclamation No. 813/2013 (enacted in 2014). The social context which prompted the enactment of specific consumer laws in Ethiopia, sources that have influenced Ethiopia’s consumer law regime, rights of consumers, obligations of business persons, regulatory enforcement schemes and some features of consumer protection in digitalized services are highlighted. Moreover, the article briefly deals with the way forward regarding consumer enablement as a path to the effective implementation of consumer rights to choice, safety, information and redress. It is argued that the articulation of specific consumer laws can hardly be implemented unless consumers are adequately empowered to secure their rights and entitlements through effective redress which should include public interest litigation, class action and enhanced civil society engagement.     

An Assessment of Consumer Protection and Consumer Empowerment in Costa Rica

The present exploratory study aims to describe and assess Costa Rica’s regime for protecting and empowering consumers. As the general framework, this study used research conducted in the USA, in Europe—specifically studies conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) partners—and studies sponsored by the European Union (EU) in Central America. This paper, however, is not intended to provide an exhaustive analysis or to answer all questions and issues related to consumer protection in Costa Rica; rather, it is to identify the main components of the consumer protection framework, its strategies, consumer redress mechanisms, remedies, and consumer protection challenges faced by the country. The last section outlines a conclusion and presents recommendations for improvement.     

Understanding the Pro-plaintiff Bias in Consumer Protection Legal Processes

Using information from the Peruvian administrative consumer system from 1998 to 2010, the paper assesses hypotheses taken from selection theory in the context of legal disputes (Priest and Klein, The Journal of Legal Studies 13(1):1, 1984) and political science. Hypotheses from selection theory regarding the influence of plaintiff stakes, informational asymmetry and, to a lesser extent, litigation costs on both selection decisions and trial outcomes were confirmed. In addition, the results corroborate other implications of selection theory, such as the non-random nature of selection processes. However, no evidence has been found regarding the theory’s prediction that the share of plaintiff victories at trial will converge to 50%. The results also show that in the Peruvian consumer protection system, plaintiffs win more often than do defendants, suggesting the pre-eminence of pro-consumer trial standards over other factors. Moreover, the evidence confirms the hypotheses taken from “party capability theory” (Galanter, Law & Society Review 9(1):95–160, 1974) regarding the influence of litigant characteristics on consumer protection legal outcomes. Finally, the results also demonstrate the relevance of ideological and attitudinal factors as determinants of consumer administrative trial decisions.     

Consumer Protection in Peru: Origins,Evolution, and Main Regulatory Influences

Journal of Consumer Policy - In the following text, the authors address the origins and evolution of consumer protection in Peru, as well as highlighting the main regulatory influences of the...     

对湖北农村金融消费者保护问题的思考

金融产品和服务具有专业化、技术化的特性,面对由金融精英组成的金融产品和服务的提供者,金融消费者相对而言不一定具备金融专业知识,信息不对称的弱势地位显而易见。农村金融消费者由于文化素质低,金融知识缺乏,加之弱势群体的心里劣势,消费者权益更容易受到侵害。侵害消费者的行为不仅损害了农民的利益,也损害了公众对金融体系的信心,影响金融行业的健康发展。针对农村消费者保护不力的状况,需要从增强农村金融供给、提高消费者文化素质和维权意识,加强金融机构的服务意识以及加强金融监管等多方面着手。     

《消费者权益保护法》修订中的金融消费者保护问题

我国金融业的发展,对金融消费者保护提出了新的要求.金融服务领域的消费者保护问题,成为最近<中华人民共和国消费者权益保护法>修订无法回避的内容.修订工作应充分考虑这种制度需求,在立法宗旨完善、消费者概念界定、保护范围扩展、政府责任强化等方面完善相关规则,促进金融消费者保护机制的完善.     

论社会主义法治理念与消费者权益保护

法治理念的成立是我国建立法治国家最基础的底蕴,是完善社会主义法治的心理基础!法治理念应当是人们所应当拥有的一种关于法治理想构成与现象的观念和认识,以及在该认识基础上人们对法治所持有的态度和价值取向。我国社会主义法治理念应当是建立我国社会主义法治国家的理想目标和在该目标基础上形成的一系列的法治观念性认识与相关的立场、追求。此外,与社会主义法治目标相吻合的有关社会主义法治诸多问题的回答和认识也都应当属于社会主义法治理念的内容。其中经济领域里的市场经济理念属于法治理念的天然组成部分;而市场经济理念同时也必须是消费者权益受保护的理念。因此,消费者权益保护属于社会主义法治理念的内容之一。     

Economics of Consumer Protection: Contributions and Challenges in Estimating Consumer Injury and Evaluating Consumer Protection Policy

Journal of Consumer Policy - The author examines the role of economics in consumer protection, drawing from her experience at the U. S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which has a dual mandate to...     

Rates of Adoption by Independent Financial Agencies (IFAs): The New Regulatory Regime

The study of the acceptance of change and attempts to measurethe adoption process are, as this paper demonstrates, subjectiveand wrought with dificulties.' Whether change comes in theform of a changing organisational culture, fashion or a changein the regulatory system, similar problems emerge whenattempting to analyse the diffusion of the new idea, and theacceptance of the innovation by the potential adopteed. Anattempt will be made to analyse the change adoption process inthe regulation of retail personal jinancial services and itsmeasurement over a period of time utilising statisticaltechniques and a model adopted from the study of consumernew-product marketing. Although this process research isdefined as 'a type of data gathering and analysis that seeks todetermine the time-ordered sequence of a set of events' accountwill also be taken of the contextual framework.' The analysis will try to ascertain whether the attitude of Independent FinancialAdvisers to the change in regulation of retail personal financialservices is a reaction of a temporary nature or whether itconstitutes a more permanent reaction which will break thesequential nature of the adoption process.     

构建基于消费者-金融产品关系生命周期的金融消费者保护体系

构建完善的金融消费者保护体系,应基于消费者-金融产品关系生命周期,探析金融消费者权益遭受侵害的根源,通过定期开展全国金融知识普查及金融消费者权益侵害调查、推进我国金融消费者权益保护法制建设、逐步完善多元化的金融消费纠纷解决机制、设计实施旨在减少消费者行为偏差的信息披露制度、建立多层次的金融消费者教育体系、规范金融机构经营行为及从消费者利益出发促进有效竞争等措施,多措并举、有机结合、突出协同,以有效捍卫金融消费者权益.     

基于完善我国消费者权益保障制度的思考——兼评《消费者权益保护法》

为更好的保护消费者合法权益,规范市场主体生产经营行为,构建和谐的消费关系,我国消费者权益保障制度应当与时俱进,大胆吸纳公益诉讼制度;进一步优化完善商品召回制度;承认"职业打假人"的法律地位;强化消费者协会的职能;才有助于在全社会营造出商业诚信文化氛围,最终成为扩大内需,拉动经济持续增长的内在动力。     

Consumer safety in Greece: An analysis of the Consumer Protection Act 1991

In September 1991 the Greek Consumer Protection Act No. 1961 was enacted. Chapter 2 of this Act establishes a legal framework for product safety. This framework has the dual aim of securing deregulation in the Greek market while maintaining effective consumer protection. This paper analyses the main features of this framework and demonstrates its inadequacies. It also investigates the extent to which these inadequacies could jeopardise an effective protection of consumers' interests. The paper concludes by emphasising that effective protection of consumers can only be achieved by supporting the general safety requirement with adequate accident-surveillance systems, mechanisms for investigation of risks, unambiguous risk-assessment criteria, creation of a comprehensive set of supporting standards that offer a high level of protection, effective control of the safety of products by the authorities, and real possibilities for consumer organisations to participate in the whole process.

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Zusammenfassung Die Sicherheit des Verbrauchers in Griechenland: eine Analyse des Verbraucherschutzgesetzes von 1991 Im September 1991 trat das griechische Verbraucherschutzgesetz in Kraft. Kapitel 2 des Gesetzes führt einen rechtlichen Rahmen für die Sicherheit von Produkten ein. Dieser Rahmen verfolgt das Ziel der Deregulierung auf dem griechischen Markt bei zugleich wirksamem Verbraucherschutz. Der Beitrag analysiert die wesentlichen Aspekte dieses Rahmens und stellt seine Schwächen dar. Er prüft, inwieweit diese Schwächen einem wirksamen Verbraucherschutz entgegenstehen können, und hebt hervor, da\ wirksamer Verbraucherschutz nur durch Stärkung der allgemeinen Sicherheitsbestimmungen erreicht werden kann. Dafür sind erforderlich ein angemessenes Unfallüberwachungssystem, Regelungen für die Untersuchung von Risiken, eindeutige Kriterien für die Bewertung von Risiken, die Entwicklung umfassender Kriterien zur Gewährleistung eines hohen Schutzniveaus, die wirksame Kontrolle der Produktsicherheit durch die Behörden, sowie für die Verbraucherorganisationen die faktische Mitwirkungsmöglichkeit an der gesamten Entwicklung.

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George Argiros, a member of the Athens Bar Association, is at present researching in the field of EC Law and Consumer Protection at the University of Leicester, Faculty of Law, Leicester LE1 7RH, U.K.     

从国际消费维权角度分析中国消费维权

中国消费者维权是国际消费者维权的一部分,中国消费者维权应该借鉴国际消费者维权的经验。在消费者处于弱势地位的时候,消费维权应该在完善消费者权益保护制度入手来进行,从而使得我国消费者权益保护和国际接轨。     

基于大数据时代消费者利益保护的金融审计研究

金融行业大数据应用比例持续增加,金融审计也面临着变革。在大数据环境下,使用金融审计来防范金融风险和保护消费者利益成了迫切需要。本文立足于消费者利益保护的角度,以大数据时代为背景,深入研究金融审计的范围、内容、方法,提出了基于消费者利益保护视角的金融审计研究基本思路。     

Consumer Insolvency in the European Legal Context

Consumer credit, as an important aspect of the free movement of capital, has for a long time now been subject to European Union regulations. However, one important aspect of consumer credit, over-indebtedness, has not been acknowledged in the Consumer Credit directives of 1978 and 2009, nor is there any other European Union law instrument that addresses over-indebtedness or insolvency of consumers. The only European-level document addressing the problem of over-indebtedness of ordinary people is the Council of Europe Recommendation of 2007. In European Union law, over-indebtedness can and should be approached from several angles. The Insolvency Regulation (2000) does not directly address situations facing the consumer debtor and leaves it up to the discretion of the Member States to include or exclude insolvency proceedings for consumer debtors regarding the scope of the Regulation. There can be little doubt that the European Union has a legal basis for action in this field, and it has also used its competence in a number of related issues, such as general insolvency law and enforcement of judgments. Case C-461/11, in which Advocate General delivered her opinion on Sept 13^th, 2012 shows that national insolvency procedures for natural persons may constitute a restriction on the freedom of movement. This article argues that, even in the absence of a European Union law instrument, the Member States should recognize debt adjustment judgments made in another Member State and that there is a need for a regulation in the European Union law in this field.     

商品监管中供方符合性声明模式的应用

对部分WTO成员应用供方符合性声明模式的案例进行了分析,提炼出该模式监管机制的六个关键要素,为我国进出口商品质量安全监管中合理应用供方符合性声明模式提供了参考和建议。     

Leveraging the Existing US Healthcare Structure for Consumer Financial Well-Being: Barriers,Opportunities, and a Framework toward Future Research

Healthcare exchange often contains peril for consumers because of numerous barriers to financial well-being (FWB). Rather than ruing specific agendas of healthcare policy, we embrace a neutral and immediately actionable approach. The authors promote gains in healthcare's current composition by empowering consumers to be proactive, where possible, in reducing power inequities and improving their own FWB. As such, the authors identify primary barriers to the FWB of healthcare consumers and propose individual opportunities within the existing healthcare structure that are likely to improve fiscal outcomes. Moreover, the current research demonstrates collaborative paths wherein power-holders (i.e., practitioner, researcher, consumer, government) can collaborate toward and/or contribute to the same financial health. A proposed theoretical framework, with foundations of power-responsibility equilibrium and transformative service research, gives rise to future research directions. This research is intended to provide a foundation for healthcare and FWB thought/action, and to guide coming scholarly offerings.     

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。     

Consumer Protection and Environmental Protection: Contradictions and Suggested Steps Towards Integration

The author states that traditional consumer policy, as carried out by the European Union for example, does not meet the requirements of sustainable development. Traditional consumer policy helps the consumer to consume as much as he wishes, whereas sustainability sometimes requires reduction of consumption. The disparity cannot be bridged by attempting to balance out two fundamentally different policies. Sustainability must be acknowledged as the basis, and consumer policy must be reshaped taking environmental needs into account. The author pleads for the employment of a mix of legal, economic, and behavioural scientific means to reach the necessary goals. It is argued that NGOs should play a dominant role in the "greening" of consumer policy.     

论反垄断法中的消费者福利保护——以知识经济为背景

消费者福利一直是反垄断法保护的对象。在知识经济时代,反垄断法受到了前所未有的挑战,将保护消费者福利明确定位为反垄断法的终极目的与核心价值,有针对性的制定微观制度与政策,是传统反垄断法因应知识经济时代的必然选择。