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.     

消费者权益的国际私法保护初探

随着全球化趋势的不断增强,各国进一步全方位地融人世界统一大市场,产品、资本和劳动力的跨国流动日趋频繁.不但各国国内企业要面对进口商品和服务的激烈竞争,各国消费者也将直面它所带来的一系列问题,涉外消费纠纷呈明显增加趋势.因而以解决国际民商事法律冲突为己任的国际私法,在国际消费纠纷的处理中起着越来越重要的作用.     

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 Magazine Advertisement Portrayal of Models by Race in the US: An Assessment

This study examined the frequency of portrayal, positive or negative depiction, relative hierarchy position, and relative social authority status of African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and White American models in a sample of consumer magazine advertisements, utilizing content analysis. A longitudinal framework was employed in the study to determine if the patterns of depiction have stabilized or have experienced meaningful change over a ten‐year period. In contrast to previous studies, the results were generally that minority group models were frequently featured, relative to their proportion in the total US population, and they were depicted in a favorable manner, relative to White models, during the periods under consideration.     

消费者权益保护的契约分析--从消费契约不完全性视角的研究

市场经济就是一种契约经济，消费者和生产经营者者之间的交易关系本质上就是一种契约关系，消费者权益也都是通过消费契约来界定的．但消费契约又是不完全的，通过消费契约对消费者权利的界定也就不可能是完全的。对于契约（明确的和默认的契约）已经界定的权利来说，消费者权益保护的中心就是契约的有效履行问题；对于契约没有界定的权利来说，消费者权益保护问题的关键就是剩余权利公正合理地配置问题。     

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.     

An Analysis of U.S. Disinvestment from South Africa: Unity, Rights, and Justice

This study examines the issues associated with the disinvestment of U.S. interests from South Africa that took place in the mid-80s from the perspective of three dominant moral theories: utility, rights, and justice. By examining the issues in light of these three theories, the paper attempts to establish a decision framework from which managers and investors can evaluate similar decisions they are facing around the world today. Similarly, the reading may prove useful to educators who incorporate discussions of ethical decision making into the classroom.Training in business ethics too often takes a strictly utilitarian perspective, or worse, a relativistic one. This study attempts to illustrate how utilitarian theory and related rights and justice issues can he interwoven into the heuristics associated with the contemporary concepts of corporate social responsibility.     

Integrating Consumer Rights into Copyright Law: From a European Perspective

Until recently consumers and consumer-interests have been virtually absent not only from the rules of copyright but also from copyright’s discourse. This has been so even though the combination of an expansion of copyright and a devaluation of the internal balancing mechanisms raise concern from a consumer perspective. There would, therefore, seem to be a need to incorporate a consumer perspective into copyright analysis. To integrate consumer interests in copyright law, this study recommends action aimed at two levels. On the general level it is suggested to rebalance copyright in order to recognize the interests of users on the same level as right holders. On the concrete level it is suggested to change the limitations found in copyright to ease access to reuse elements of previous works. It is also proposed to reinforce the rule on private copying and to consider measures to secure access to basic information.

Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Procedural Justice in a Complaint Context

The idea of procedural justice as perceived by consumers has not been explored in the consumer behavior literature, although there has been some mention of consumer perceptions of fair treatment. This article describes the development of a scale using procedural justice as its theoretic base to measure consumers' perceptions of fair treatment when they complain. Results indicate that consumers make a distinction between the complaint process and the outcome of their complaint, indicating that procedural justice has further research potential. In addition, the proposed scale possesses the psychometric properties of an acceptable scale.     

Manufacturer Responsiveness to Consumer Correspondence: An Empirical Investigation of Consumer Perceptions

Although there is general agreement on the importance of the consumer correspondence handling function, specific steps businesses can take to satisfy consumers are relatively unexplored empirically. This study examines 300 consumers’ responses to actual manufacturers' letters addressing complaints and compliments. The discussion focuses on understanding the components of consumer satisfaction to manufacturers'responses and provides suggestions to businesses to increase that satisfaction level.     

电子商务中消费者的权益保护研究

电子商务改变了传统商务手段,开拓了新的市场,产生了巨大的效应,同时也为消费者的权益保护带来了新的挑战。本文旨在对这些问题进行分析并提出相应的对策,以保护消费者在电子商务环境下的合法权益。     

消费者主权、企业治理与和谐社会

企业行为对构建和谐社会有着重要的影响,利益相关者治理理论表明消费者的消费行为对企业行为有引导作用。通过强化消费者主权,将社会正义纳入消费者效用函数,正确行使消费者主权,可以促使企业形成良好的企业道德,促进和谐社会建设。     

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.     

论消费者权益保护的范式转换

消费者权益保护存在抽象交易范式、具体交易范式、消费行为范式、服务合同范式等。抽象交易范式中,消费者属基于配平交易关系需要顾及到的主体之一,其保护不具独立意义,客观上得到制度性关照在于保护获得平等的交易机会。具体交易范式以德国立法例为代表,其通过与经营者营业或职业行为对照,确立消费者全方位弱的弱者地位,权益保护的目的旨在实现具体交易公平。消费行为范式以生活消费界定消费者概念,消费行为属自然人民事主体资格的组成部分,具有超越于商事行为的法律价值,为消费者权益保护提供私法层面的解释。服务合同范式立足于生活消费在服务业主导产业结构下的时代特征,实现消费者概念向民法典民事主体制度的回归,并促进经营者商行为伦理性的现代重塑。     

Consumer Risk Response and Consumer Protection: An Economic Analysis of Seat Belt Usage

A utility analysis of decisions involving risk indicated that risk averse consumers would undertake a risk reduction strategy as long as the change in expected loss was equal to or greater than the costs of the strategy. Cost-benefit analysis of seat belt usage was conducted to test this hypothesis. The results indicated that drivers of all size classes would gain from using seat belts in the case of low user costs while the drivers of subcompacts and compacts would gain in the case of higher user costs. However, less than one-fifth of drivers wear seat belts. These results raise questions concerning the effectiveness of the informed buyer approach in areas of risk or uncertainty.     

Measuring Consumer Ethnocentrism: An Assessment of Reliability,Validity and Dimensionality of the CETSCALE in a Developing Market

ABSTRACT

Based on 305 surveyed consumers in Zimbabwe’s two major cities (Harare and Bulawayo), the study sought mainly to measure consumer ethnocentrism and to test psychometric properties of the CETSCALE in Zimbabwe using structural equation modeling. It was established that the construct of consumer ethnocentrism comprises two dimensions, namely negative influence of foreign products, and preference for domestic products. Consumer ethnocentrism was found to be moderately high. The psychometric properties of the CETSCALE tested above the required thresholds. Consumer ethnocentrism was found to negatively influence consumer attitude towards imported poultry products. The study has implications for managers and future researchers.     

Attitudes Toward Consumer and Business Ethics Among Canadian and New Zealand Business Students: An Assessment of 28 Scenarios

Recent initiatives in business curricula have included emphases on global business and ethics. This paper combines these issues by comparing the ethical predisposition of business students in New Zealand with their Canadian counterparts. A sample of 360 students indicated that students in both countries generally hold high expectations for the behaviour of both business and consumers. Of the 28 scenarios evaluated, five exhibited significant differences between the two groups. In four cases, students from New Zealand expressed less tolerance for the questionable business practices, and in the other one the situation was reversed. Despite the relative congruence of attitudes exhibited by the students of the two countries, the fact that differences do exist is testimony to the increased risk inherent to international business.     

Materialism and Consumer Ethics: An Exploratory Study

As the issue of marketing's social responsibility grows in significance, the topic of materialism surfaces. While many marketing efforts encourage materialism, the materialism that is encouraged may have negative societal effects. An understanding of the effects of materialism on individuals, families, society, etc., is important in evaluating whether or not it is socially irresponsible for marketers to encourage materialism. However, the adequate empirical work has not yet been done on the overall effects of materialism. The current paper asks and addresses one important empirical question in this area. Do consumers who are more materialistic have different ethical standards than those who are not? Empirical evidence is presented which would indicate that materialism is negatively correlated with people's higher ethical standards as consumers. The implications for this in understanding social responsibility are discussed.