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。     

日本金融ADR机制探析

日本在其ADR机制发展成熟的基础上,创设了一套独特的金融ADR机制。该机制以纠纷解决机构为中心,构建了一套旨在保护金融消费者,并兼顾金融服务机构利益的运作体系。在效率与公平方面具有深刻实体制度价值的日本金融ADR机制,仍面临着协调与其他机制关系,确定更明晰的法律定位等诸多问题,并需逐步向统一金融ADR机制的方向发展。     

Exploring the Legality of Consumer Anti-branding Activities in the Digital Age

The importance of “brand dilution” is changing with the rise in internet-mediated consumer power and increasing consumer involvement in the brand identity and message creation processes. In light of recent legal rulings, this study re-conceptualizes brand dilution as a matter of counter-posed brand meanings and associations in digital markets. Anti-branding dilution cases from both a blurring and a tarnishment dilution basis are examined through consumer interviews. The results show that consumer anti-branding has less potential for brand dilution, and more potential for brand identity collusion. By addressing both legal and marketing views of the meaning systems associated with the dilution versus collusion perspectives, this study provides an approach for understanding anti-branding dilution discussions and a way to develop better functioning branding exchange systems for digital markets. Consequently, possible changes in future branding ownership issues for digital markets are envisioned.     

浅析电子商务活动中消费者合法权益的保护

电子商务不仅改变了传统的商务活动模式,而且对产业间的融合与经济结构的调整产生了重大的影响。电子商务在给我们带来诸多便利的同时,也产生了大量的法律问题,在这些问题中,消费者合法权益的保护问题更显突出。     

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.     

Consumers in the Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE): What creates and/or constitutes consumer vulnerability in the KBE?

We reflect on the issues which emerged from an interdisciplinary workshop held under the aegis of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS), Lancaster University in April 2006 about the Knowledge-Based Economy (KBE). The workshop addressed the question: What creates or constitutes consumer vulnerability in the KBE within the context of financial services? Discussion revolved around four themes: Firstly, setting debates about KBE in a historical context; secondly, identifying the disciplinary perspective for constructing the consumer (e.g., economic, legal); thirdly defining vulnerability without encompassing more than 70% of the population; and finally evaluating the government’s role in consumer welfare and education in the KBE. Directions for future research were identified.     

Consumers and Biotechnology: A Synopsis of Survey and Focus Group Research

The Office of Consumer Affairs of Industry Canada, in conjunction with other federal departments, has undertaken preliminary work to identify concerns and highlight consumer issues with respect to biotechnology and its applications. This has included conducting a number of surveys and focus groups to identify what consumers know about biotechnology; where there are information gaps; and how information impacts upon consumers' purchasing decisions.This paper is structured into five sections. First, it provides an overview of some background information on biotechnology. The second section summarises consumers' knowledge of, and reactions to, biotechnology. Next, the paper highlights factors that influence consumers' attitudes towards biotechnology. The fourth section examines two ways of overcoming marketplace barriers contrasting increased consumer awareness with more traditional legislative mechanisms. The concluding section outlines questions that need to be answered in order to determine how the marketplace can best address issues related to biotechnological products.     

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.     

“Where the East Kisses the West”: Marketing Convergence and Divergence in the New Europe Editorial to the Special Section

This special section contains articles based on selected papers presented during the 7^th EMAC Regional Conference hosted by the School of Economics and Business, University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2016. Following the double-blind review process, 14 best articles qualified for publication in this special section. Apart from the articles tackling the issues in emerging markets, a broad range of different topics, ranging from consumer journey and international branding to strategic issues are also included in this special issue.     

European Union policies and practice

Abstract: Early attempts to build a harmonized legal system for banking and financial services throughout the EU met insurmountable difficulties. The shift towards the single market approach in the mid-1980s has been much more successful in terms of removing the obstacles preventing banks and other financial services organizations from establishing themselves and selling their services wherever they choose throughout the EU. The theory has been that consumers would benefit in terms of wider choice and lower prices, but consumer protection needs have been relatively neglected until recently. The emphasis is now changing, and there is widespread recognition that consumer protection aspects of the marketing of banking and financial services need special consideration. However, there is still an unfinished agenda of consumer issues, including distance selling of financial services, overindebtedness, mortgage credit, better consumer information and improved systems of providing redress.     

Consumers and deregulation of the electricity market in Germany

Against the backcloth of EU regulation, this note looks at the “politics of necessity” regarding electricity provision in Germany. Electricity as a case is chosen because its provision has been undergoing a profound process of liberalisation and deregulation, and there is a considerable amount of experience with the chances and pitfalls of liberalisation in this sector. Secondly, electricity is a network industry and a natural monopoly subject to systematic market failure, which calls for regulation. The paper starts out with a closer look at the consumer as an actor in the regulation process, proposing a three-role model of the consumer as a market player, as a citizen, and as a micro-producer in households and networks. In these roles, consumers take on different social and political identities; they are affected differently by (de)regulation of essential services and have different options for reacting to quality and price issues. It then describes the legal state and the development of deregulation in the electricity sector in Germany. Selected empirical data are presented, and consumer policy implications are drawn.     

Consumer Class Actions: Are They a Solution for Enforcing Consumer Rights? The Israeli Model

Class actions were introduced into the Israeli legal system in order to overcome the difficulties in the enforcement of consumer laws. Despite extensive consumer legislation during the 1980s, consumer laws were not enforced until the mid 1990s. Only since the incorporation of class action procedures in the Consumer Protection Law in 1994 have consumer actions become more common. The introduction of class actions under the Consumer Protection Law (CPL) led to a revival of consumer protection law. As a result, legal discourse in the field of consumer law has completely changed. Nonetheless, even after 1994 more than 90% of class action applications were dismissed at the early stages. This paper analyses the reasons for the poor results of this procedure, and suggests reform by amending the CPL. The conclusion presented in this paper is that consumer class actions have great potential, but that their correct implementation depends on a better understanding of the purpose of consumer legislation.     

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.     

The development of consumer protection in Saudi Arabia

The development of consumer protection in Saudi Arabia is of interest for a number of reasons. First, Saudi Arabia presents a unique combination of size, stage of development of the economy and wealth, coupled with strictness of Islamic observance. Second, consumer protection in the Saudi context has received very little attention from researchers. Despite the richness of Islamic teachings on the conduct of business and trade, very little has been written on consumer protection in Islamic societies other than discussions of financial markets and consumer credit and monopoly. This article briefly explores the background to the emergence of consumer protection in Saudi Arabia. Consumer credit and financial markets are excluded from the discussion. Islamic (Shari’ah) law is analysed as a basis for the regulation of consumer affairs; this system of law is then compared in its major outcomes for consumers with legal systems in advanced Western economies. The development of secular commercial law during recent times in Saudi Arabia is also considered as a parallel development to those in Shari’ah. Both strands of development are then set in the context of Saudi Arabia's 5‐year development plans and the changing position of consumer policy issues is tracked through successive plans. The institutional location of consumer policy within the Saudi government system is discussed before finally considering the changing nature of the Saudi consumer and the possible future for consumer protection in the country.     

Financial Consumer Protection Regime in Malaysia: Assessment of the Legal and Regulatory Framework

This paper examines the status of the legal and regulatory framework for consumer protection in Malaysia, an emerging economy. Using leximetrics and notions of incomplete law, the paper explores the financial consumer protection regime in the country by examining two aspects of the legal framework: the legal infrastructure and typology of laws. The Malaysian legal framework for financial consumer protection is assessed in light of the good practices identified in international guidelines issued on the themes by OECD and the World Bank. The results highlight the complementary nature and different roles that laws, regulations, and supporting institutions play in achieving a comprehensive financial consumer protection framework in the country.     

Evolution of the Payment Systems of London Clearing Banks

The London Clearing Banks (LCBs) have successfully used payment systems to establish a customer franchise, through which they have gained cheap retail deposits and provided lending and other services. Yet they have failed to price the service rationally. Market growth has dramatically increased the volume of payments, exacerbating the cost problem. To counter this, the LCBs have introduced additional payment mechanisms such as credit cards and Bankers' Automated Clearing Service (BACS); are introducing electronic fund transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS); and are further automating the existing cash and cheque-based system. The development of the clearing house, BA CS and EFTPOS demonstrates how payment systems impose co-operative policies to facilitate the transfer of funds and reduce costs, but such enforced co-operation ten& to lead to perfect competition, with uniform pricing policies. Competitors are in a strong position to operate more efficient and less expensive payments media for their customers. The dilemma facing the LCBs is therefore how to match this challenge and maintain their market position through further investment in payments technology, while maintaining their existing less efficient and more expensive payments media.     

A Question of Trust: the Pursuit of Consumer Trust in the Financial Sector by Means of EU Legislation

The decrease in consumer trust in the financial sector and the attempts to restore it are receiving a great deal of interest, especially since the financial crisis at the end of 2008. EU legislation is one of the ways that attempts have been made to regain the trust of investors. In the second section, the concept of “trust” will be subjected to an in-depth yet not exhaustive examination, with the aim of reducing its elusiveness. The third section will discuss three recent EU proposals. Examination of these legislative proposals reveals that (1) the term “trust” is not precisely defined, and (2) without stating further reasons, the restoration of trust in the financial sector is considered a worthy goal. In light of the aforementioned, the fourth section will address the desirability of clarity regarding the term “trust.” The fifth section will then assess whether legislation is a suitable means to restore consumer trust, and the sixth section explores whether the restoration of consumer trust in the financial sector is a worthy goal. Indeed, the European legislator and other policymakers seem to consider a low level of consumer trust a bad thing, a high level of consumer trust a good thing, and a higher level of consumer trust an even better thing. This article will argue that it is doubtful whether EU legislation is a suitable means for restoring consumer trust in the financial sector and, moreover, that considering the perverse incentives in the current financial sector, among other things, a realistic degree of trust, implying a certain distrust, appears preferable.     

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.     

“To buy or to pirate”: The matrix of music consumers' acquisition-mode decision-making

The decision to engage in music piracy may be preceded by consumer consideration of a range of issues. The determinants of such piracy as embedded in a large matrix of acquisition-mode decision factors relevant to exchange theory, including economic, legal, ethical, network and consumer behavior aspects, are investigated here. This matrix depicts numerous interrelated factors and makes assessing the decision-making process regarding music piracy more contextual than previously considered. A study of 204 American business students was conducted to test this matrix and assess the impact of the various factors. Implications and future research regarding this decision-making matrix and exchange theory are provided. The significant factors predict whether an exchange takes place between music consumers and the music industry.     

Solicitation and the Legal Profession: A New Issue for Consumer Affairs Professionals

While issues relating to the advertising of legal services have received much attention in the scholarly literature, this has not been the case for solicitation by lawyers, even though it appears that lawyers are more interested in being able to solicit than to advertise. In this article the legal issues surrounding solicitation are identified and tied to a basic communications model; then research propositions are presented along with the results of a survey of attitudes held toward solicitation by 125 lawyers practicing in two Rocky Mountain states. The survey results suggest that solicitation is not going to be easily accepted and that many lawyers may have trouble evaluating differences among solicitation, direct mail and advertising. The survey results also suggest that attitudes toward solicitation may be changing in that younger, less experienced respondents expressed more liberal attitudes toward solicitation than their older and more experienced colleagues. Taken together the findings of this article strongly suggest that solicitation is likely to offer a complex and challenging development for consumer affairs professionals in the years ahead.