European consumer law

In the context of current pandemic crisis due, social distancing and quarantine measures were imposed by states due to the high risk of infection by going out of the house for buying the goods and services that are required. Naturally, there has been an increase in online acquisitions, use of online entertainment and online tools for professional purposes. This has increased the level of demand alongside the consumption in the online sector which forces the suppliers to become more inventive in order to sell their products and services and make them more accessible, price wise, in better meet the expectations. Unfortunately, this being a highly abrupt shift with no precedence, forcing the traders and providers in the online sector to cut corners in order to keep up and, as a consequence, may affect the consumers. All these being said, although we speak about unprecedented context, the European Union, over the last two decades, has enacted more directives and regulations in order to keep up with this market's unique and high innovation rate with the goal to ensure the consumer's protection. This papers analysis the evolution of the European Consumer Law starting with the minimum harmonisation approach and getting to new acts which try to fully harmonise the area for the attainment of a functional internal market, a Single Market which is, nowadays, pressured by the digital revolution and social distancing to change perspective, as customers are interacting with the business in different ways they did once and the digital content is becoming the main product or service to be supplied.

La Direttiva 2019/2161/Ue (c.d. “Direttiva Omnibus”) prevede numerose novità sul fronte delle tutele dei consumatori che accedono al mercato unico digitale. In particolare, vengono apportate modifiche ed integrazioni alle discipline in materia di pratiche commerciali sleali e di obblighi informativi precontrattuali al fine di garantire un corretto e trasparente svolgimento delle operazioni di consumo nei mercati online. Inoltre, viene ampliato il campo di applicazione della Direttiva 2011/83/Ue ai contratti di fornitura di servizi digitali che non prevedono un corrispettivo pecuniario, a cui però viene riservato un trattamento differenziato in merito ad alcuni aspetti disciplinari del recesso di pentimento. Il presente lavoro esamina gli interventi di riforma sopra richiamati, soffermandosi sia sui profili contenutistici che sul tipo di armonizzazione attuata dal legislatore europeo, della quale si mettono in risalto le sfumature cangianti. Si evidenzia, infine, come il moltiplicarsi di iniziative regolatorie del mercato digitale richieda all’interprete un notevole sforzo, che non consiste soltanto nel raccordare le nuove discipline europee ai sistemi nazionali, ma anche nel garantire una coerenza interna alle stesse regole di nuovo conio.
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The Directive 2019/2161/Eu (the so-called “Omnibus Directive”) provides for numerous innovations in the field of consumer protection in the digital single market. In particular, there are some amendments and additions to the set of rules regarding unfair commercial practices and pre-contractual information duties and they aim to make B2C transactions work properly in online marketplaces. Moreover, the scope of the Directive 2011/83/Eu is changed to include digital service contracts which are provided free of monetary charge, but these contracts are treated differently with regard to some legal aspects of the right of withdrawal. The present work analyses the aforementioned changes in terms of both content details and the level of EU harmonization, whose different nuances are underlined. It eventually points out that the legal scholars are required to face the increased EU legislation on digital market, not only focusing on its coherence with national legal systems but also taking care of the consistency of the same new digital rules.

The article discusses critically pros and cons of branch specific arbitration proceedings as organized and financed by industry associations like the federal association of public banks with an independent Ombudsman according to its rules of procedure. It sheds light on statistical chances to prevail. As to the directive 2013/11/EU for alternative dispute resolution no substantial improvements are to be expected.

FR : Cette thèse vise à opérer une confrontation entre la manière dont les droits nationaux appréhendent la question des contrats liés (sous différentes terminologies) et l’écho que trouvent ces problématiques en droit européen.
Ce travail met en évidence l’opposition entre la volonté de systématisation récurrente poursuivie par les droits nationaux afin de construire un ensemble cohérent de règles, et celle plus pragmatique du droit européen qui aborde ces problématiques à l’aune de considérations d’opportunités juridiques et politiques. L’éclairage à double sens offert par l’étude des contrats liés à la lumière du droit européen révèle non seulement l’impossibilité de systématiser cette notion à l’échelle communautaire mais également le caractère artificiel de cette notion telle qu’elle est appréhendée par certains droits nationaux.
EN : This thesis aims to confront and compare the way national laws approach linked contracts (under different terminology) and the resonance in European law of the issues raised by this concept.
This study brings to light the opposition between, on one hand, the recurring willingness of systematization pursued by national laws in order to build a coherent set of rules, and on the other hand, the logic - more pragmatic - of European law which deals with these issues in the light of considerations of legal and policy opportunities. The two-way lighting proposed by the study of linked contracts through the lens of European Law not only reveals the impossibility of systematizing a Community level concept but also the artificial nature of this notion as handled by some national laws.

Italian Abstract: I Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) costituiscono una grande opera di “diritto scientifico”. Essendo stati redatti come black letter rules, essi possono servire per l’interpretazione del diritto nazionale e degli strumenti di diritto internazionale, modellare le riforme dei codici civili, incentivare la concorrenza tra gli ordinamenti giuridici, così contribuendo alla loro efficienza. Soprattutto, i PECL possono essere scelti dalle parti contraenti come legge applicabile al loro contatto, sebbene nei limiti stabiliti dalle norme di diritto internazionale privato.
L’articolo si sofferma sul rapporto tra i PECL e le norme imperative del diritto nazionale, in particolare quelle riguardanti la tutela del consumatore e la concorrenza sleale. Sono prese in considerazione le norme di applicazione necessaria e la clausola di ordine pubblico internazionale.

English Abstract: The Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) stand as a great achievement of "scientific law". Being drafted as "black letter rules", the PECL may serve to interpret national laws and instruments of international law, to design the reform of national civil codes, to foster competition between national laws, thus enhancing their efficiency. Above all, the PECL can be chosen by the contracting parties as the law governing their contract, provided that such choice does not contravene the rules dictated by private international law. The article focuses on the relation between the PECL and the mandatory rules of national law, particularly those regarding consumer protection and unfair competition. Attention is heeded to overriding mandatory provisions and to the public policy of the forum (ordre public clause).

Sommario:-1.Il consumatore 'debole' e la sua tutela.-2. Dal consumatore 'protetto' al 'consum-attore.'.-3. Verso un consumatore 'evoluto': 'conosci te stesso'.-3.1. Il nuovo 'consumatore digitale'.-3.2. Gli strumenti di empowerment.-4. Qualche osservazione di chiusura 1. Il consumatore 'debole' e la sua tutela "La fine del secolo breve e l'inizio del nuovo millennio registrano fenomeni che si suol racchiudere, con terminologia evocativa, in due espressioni: globalizzazione e rivoluzione digitale. Le due espressioni riguardano fenomeni che si sono sviluppati parallelamente, per un tratto, e poi hanno finito per convergere, per l'ultimo tratto. [….] Nel momento in cui questi due fenomeni si sono integrati è avvenuta quella implosione che ha portato alla new economy: cioè a un altro modo di produrre, a un altro modo di consumare, a un altro modo di lavorare e di vivere, dentro e fuori il mercato" 1. Come ricordava lo stesso Guido Alpa nella prefazione al volume del 2006 da cui la citazione è tratta, questo costituiva la nuova versione aggiornata di due lavori pubblicati alcuni lustri prima, cioè Tutela del consumatore e controlli sull'impresa del 1978 e Diritto privato dei consumi del 1986. Queste date testimoniano come Alpa sia stato un vero precursore nel campo degli studi sul "diritto dei consumatori" che, come noto, è un'area del sapere giuridico relativamente recente. Si colloca negli anni '70 del secolo scorso il momento in cui i giuristi hanno iniziato ad interrogarsi sulla figura del consumatore e sulla natura dei suoi interessi rispetto a quelli della parte generale del contratto e più ampiamente delle relazioni giuridiche che coinvolgono l'interagire dei privati. Peraltro il tema veniva affrontato da prospettive diverse e diversificate sono state le motivazioni che hanno portato a introdurre un sistema a tutela dei consumatori identificabili come i destinatari finali dei prodotti e dei servizi scambiati sul mercato 2. A monte di questa nuova figura, nel corso del '900, era stata elaborata quella del contraente-consumatore "debole", in quanto in condizioni di asimmetria informativa (*) Ringrazio Sabrina Lanni per la sua attenta lettura e gli interessanti suggerimenti. Ogni responsabilità resta comunque mia. 1 G. ALPA, Introduzione al diritto dei consumatori, Laterza, 2006, 11-12 2 Ivi, 8-9.

On 18 June 2013 the following documents were published: Directive 2013/11/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2009/22/EC (Directive on consumer ADR) and Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 May 2013 on online dispute resolution for consumer disputes and amending Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and Directive 2009/22/EC (Regulation on consumer ODR). The purpose of this article is to present main impact assessment on the implementation of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Directive and Online Dispute Resolution Regulation in the Polish legal system.

This REJUS Casebook on the impact of fundamental rights on consumer protection was drafted on the basis of collaboration between academics and judges from various European countries. This collaboration combines rigorous methodologies with judicial practices, and provides trainers with the sort of rich comparative material that should always characterize transnational training. [...] This casebook evolved in both content and method over time, with additional suggestions accruing from its use in training events. [...] 

The casebook comprises seven chapters.
Chapter 1 deals with the core subject of ex officio powers of civil judges in consumer litigation, an issue deeply influenced by EU case law applying the principle of equivalence and effectiveness as a limitation to national procedural autonomy. By clustering several judgments we have been able to observe the increasing impact on national case law and compare the different modes of ex officio powers during the several phases of civil proceedings: from the legal qualification of the case and ascertainment of the consumer status of the litigant to the identification of violations of EU law; from identification of the relevant facts and means of proof to consideration of them through the comparative assessment of litigants’ views; from interpretation of the allegations to specification of parties’ claims and defences; and from substantive review of consumer contracts to their enforcement in foreclosure procedures.

Chapter 2 examines the role played by the principle of effective judicial protection in CJEU competition cases involving consumers: this role, highly influential in the development of EU secondary law on damages in antitrust cases, may suggest future developments in neighbouring areas of consumer law, such as unfair commercial practices.

Chapter 3 addresses the relationship between judicial and administrative consumer protection. Although there is no direct application of Article 47 CFREU, to purely administrative enforcement procedures, the principles of effectiveness, proportionality and dissuasiveness are influencing the functioning of these proceedings when administrative enforcement proceeding is followed by judicial proceeding. Judicial review of administrative decisions enforcing fundamental rights has recently been viewed by the CJEU through the lens of Article 47 CFREU.
The impact of EU general principles on coordination among different types of enforcement procedures is at the core of

Chapter 4, dedicated to the relationship between individual and collective redress mechanisms. Two perspectives are examined here: coordination through suspension of the procedure when pending a connected procedure, and coordination through extension of the legal effects of decisions rendered in collective redress procedures to the adjudication of individual cases concerning equivalent or connected claims based on the same grounds and facts.

Chapter 5 examines the impact of the principles of effectiveness, proportionality and dissuasiveness on the choice and application of civil remedies in consumer cases in three areas: unfair terms, unfair commercial practices, and consumer sales. Well beyond the scope of Article 47 CFREU, these principles are shaping the national rules on the adjudication of civil remedies, raising continuous challenges for the daily working of civil courts.

Chapter 6 builds another bridge – between judicial procedures and settlement procedures or other alternative dispute resolution (ADR and ODR) mechanisms. The application of procedural safeguards to these procedures, increasingly affected by EU secondary legislation, is greatly influenced by the role played by the CJEU, starting from the Alassini case (Joined Cases C- 317/08, C-318/08, C-319/08 and C-320/08), which remains a milestone in any case law on consumer ADR although the proceeding was never resumed before the national court.

Chapter 7 concludes with consideration of the perspective of cross-border cases, the application of private international law, and the impact recently exerted by the CJEU with the lens of the principle of effectiveness as applied to consumer cases. Identification of both the competent jurisdiction and the applicable law call for due recognition of the role played by the principle of effectiveness and Article 47 in cross-border cases. Here application entails the need to rethink interpretation of Rome I and Rome II and Brussels bis Regulation in the area of consumer protection in light of the role of fundamental rights.
(from the introduction)

يشهد العالم منذ أواخر القرن الماضي قفزات علمية وتكنولوجية أدت إلى تحولات هامة في شتى المجالات، أبرزها تنامي دور شبكة الإنترنت في مختلف نواحي الحياة، إذ أصبح المستهلك يبرم عقودا عبرها لاقتناء حاجاته من سلع وخدمات، نظرا لما تتميز به من سرعة وسهولة في إجراء هذه المعاملات.
لكن، أصبحت هذه المعاملات الإلكترونية تشكل تهديدا على مصالح المستهلك الإلكتروني، خاصة على رضاه، نظرا إلى طبيعة هذه المعاملات. هذا ما دفع بمختلف التشريعات إلى استحداث آليات حمائية خاصة بالمستهلك الإلكتروني، عن طريق إقرار ما يعرف بالحق في العدول عن التعاقد.
ففي التشريع الجزائري، لا يوجد أي تنظيم متعلق بهذا الحق. لهذا، ستتركز هذه الدراسة أساسا على تنظيم بعض التشريعات المقارنة للحق في العدول، خصوصا تشريع الاستهلاك الفرنسي، وقانون المبادلات والتجارة الإلكترونية التونسي، وكذا توجيهة البرلمان والمجلس الأوروبيين المتعلقة بحقوق المستهلك.
عمل هذا المقال على إبراز المفاهيم المتعلقة بالحق في العدول، إلى جانب أحكامه وآثاره.

This chapter examines the roles of empirical research in consumer law. It does so form a contemporary perspective, taking into account the increased recourse to empirical data both in legal scholarship and in policy-making in conjunction with the behavioural turn. It addresses primarily legal researchers educated in a doctrinal tradition who take an interest in consumer law and are considering adding an empirical dimension to their work or want to incorporate empirical work among the sources they use. In this perspective, part 1 offers a typology of legal questions and discusses how each relates to empirical issues. A distinction is drawn between internal legal questions (questions about how rules relate to one another) and external legal questions (questions about law and the world). It is shown that, while external legal questions about effectiveness and efficiency of rules present a natural affinity with empirics, internal legal questions can also have an empirical component. Taking examples in consumer law, the chapter illustrates that empirical issues lie in the midst of questions about the validity, proportionality or interpretation of rules. Part 1 also highlights the particular interest of one type of external legal question for empirical research, besides issues of effectiveness and efficiency, namely reality-check questions, which confront implicit behavioural claims embedded in the law with what is known of consumer behaviour (or indeed firms' behaviour). Part 2 reviews an illustrative selection of recent empirical work, which, strikingly, all pertain to external legal questions. It characterises the use of data in legal argument as rhetorical and illustrates this claim with two series of examples. Legal discourse based on data with express a critique of existing legal regimes provide the most striking illustrations. The rhetorical intensity recedes in reflexion about policy inception and fine-tuning of policy-interventions. Yet, all the examples show that lawyers only ever use data to make arguments. Turning to enforcement of consumer law, a recent trend in the literature advocates more data-intensive enforcement methods. Such proposals, along with substantive and procedural questions raised by algorithmic powered commercial practices provide rich perspectives for further research outlined in part 3.

Several studies have shown nickel and cobalt release from jewellery by using spot tests, but the metal composition of jewellery is largely unknown.
To evaluate the metal composition of a large worldwide sample of mainly inexpensive jewellery items, and investigate the release of nickel, cobalt and lead from a subsample by using EN 1811:1998-required methods.
A total of 956 metallic jewellery components were examined with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. A subsample of 96 jewellery items purchased in the United States were investigated for nickel, cobalt and lead release by the use of artificial sweat immersion and plasma optical emission spectroscopy.
Eighteen elements were detected. The 10 most frequently occurring were, in order of frequency, copper, iron, zinc, nickel, silver, chromium, tin, manganese, lead, and cobalt. Release of nickel was noted from 79 of the 96 US samples (0.01-98 µg/cm(2) /week), release of cobalt from 35 samples (0.02-0.5 µg/cm(2) /week), and release of lead from 37 samples (0.03-2718 µg/cm(2) /week).
We present here a comprehensive list of the most frequently encountered metals in jewellery and fashion accessories. Different allergenic and non-allergenic metals are utilized. We also report the frequent release of nickel, cobalt and lead from these objects, despite legislative restrictions.

Il pacchetto di riforme approvato o approvando in orbita Digital Single Market strategy offre l'occasione per avviare una discussione sulla perdurante modernità del diritto dei consumi in Italia. L'esame dei punti essenziali della direttiva c.d. Digital Content e Digital Service e delle due proposte di direttiva sul c.d. New Deal per i consumatori, condotto in un'ottica interdisciplinare e lungo cinque principali direttrici (la nozione di professionista-consumatore; la nozione di atto-contratto; l'elasticità della nozione di pratiche commerciali scorrette; l'efficacia deterrente delle sanzioni nel diritto dei consumi; le azioni rappresentative risarcitorie tra diritto europeo e diritto nazionale), rivela due aspetti. Il primo, è che le clausole elastiche del Codice del consumo sono spesso state interpretate modernamente dall'AGCM, di modo che molte delle modifiche approvate o proposte in ambito europeo non suoneranno a livello interno come una completa novità: in questi casi, nuovi fenomeni economici non necessitavano di nuove regole giuridiche, ma solo di un nuovo approccio. Pertanto, la rilevanza dell'intervento europeo risiede soprattutto nel livello di armonizzazione raggiunto, che mira a ridurre le differenze tra Stati Membri. Il secondo è che, di fronte alle sfide tecnologiche della modernità, alcuni concetti cardine sembrano però richiedere un intervento legislativo. Il contributo tenta di evidenziare in cosa le proposte di ammodernamento, complessivamente positive, si mostrino deficitarie.
Il contributo è parte del Capitolo Autorità garante della concorrenza e del mercato, con S. Perugini, cfr. http://www.consumersforum.it/files/eventi/2019/CF_Consumerism-2019.pdf

"Conferencia de Clausura" da "II Jornada Internacional sobre el marco jurídico de la ciencia de datos: 'Nuevos retos de los derechos digitales'", organizada pela "Universitat Politècnica de València", Espanha. Dia 19 de novembro de 2021.

Uma versão preliminar, intitulada "Cuando los Consumidores Contratan Teniendo Enfrente Sistemas de IA", correspondeu a uma Conferência / "Ponencia" realizada no "Congreso Internacional Hispano-Luso e Iberoamericano sobre 'Sociedad Digital y Derecho Civil'", "organizado pelo "Grupo de Investigación «Persona, Familia y Menores» (SEJ-346)" do "Departamento de Derecho Civil" da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Granada, Espanha. Dia 14 de abril de 2021.

This article aims to critically analyse the two proposals for Directives that the European Commission launched on 9 December 2015: the Online Sales Directive and the Digital Content Directive. Both proposals are part of the Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe. Their main objective is to eliminate one of the barriers to cross-border trade: differences in contract law between Member States. This article is structured in two parts, which will be published separately. The first part of the article aims at answering the question of whether the new rules will attain their objective of reducing the complexity of the legal framework applicable to consumer protection in e-commerce. Section 2 briefly introduces the purpose of the Directives and their precedents. Sections 3 and 4 discuss, with regard to each Directive, what kind of contracts are covered by the Directives, how these contracts are currently regulated in Europe and what the implications are of the new rules, if adopted, for the contract law of Member States. It can be argued that whereas the Online Sales Directive will contribute to increasing the fragmentation of the regulation on consumer sales, the Digital Content Directive will address the existing legal lacunae at the EU level concerning certain aspects of contracts for the supply of digital content. Rosa Milà Rafel

This chapter introduces the reader to the basic behavioural concepts and their importance for consumer law. The analysis is organized on three levels, the descriptive, the axiological and the prescriptive. The focus is primarily on European research and its connections with EU law. At the descriptive level, the chapter defends the definition of " nudge " as " an effect of the choice architecture that alters people's behaviour by making use of one or more behavioural trait " and offers a taxonomy of nudges. Then, it proposes to label " law and behavioural sciences " the research field devoted to investigating the legal and policy relevance of behavioural insights and emphasises the importance of the concept of behavioural market failure in this regard. At the axiological level, the chapter suggests that, instead of focusing on the opposition between autonomist and welfarist frameworks, it is more interesting to reflect on the importance given to individual preferences and to look at their role in legal practice. At the prescriptive level, the chapter reviews the behavioural toolkit and then offers some insights on how to incorporate behavioural insights in legal discourse. It is argued that the concept of consumer weakness is particularly porous to behavioural insights, and that scientific uncertainty is not a categorical reason against their incorporation. The chapter concludes with some remarks about future research in consumer law and behavioural sciences.

A case note on CJEU C-154, 307 & 308/15, Francisco Gutiérrez Naranjo v. Cajasur Banco SAU; Ana María Palacios Martínez v. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA) and Banco Popular Español SA v. Emilio Irles López and Teresa Torres Andreu, Judgment of the Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) of 21 December 2016, EU:C:2016:980.

An earlier draft of the case note published in (2018) 55 CMLR, 1595-1618

Collaborative/sharing economy is considered as an extraordinary opportunity of economic growth and it could not be ignored by legislators across the world and in the EU as well.
Among its main positive aspects, it allows underutilised assets to be put to more productive use, it makes both the supply and demand sides of its markets more competitive, it cuts transaction costs and expands the scope of trade. At the same time, it is universally admitted that there is also a large degree of uncertainty regarding rights and obligations within the contractual relationships establishing between the service/good provider, the final user and the online platform putting them in contact (Airbnb, Uber, etc.).
The most impelling question this lecture aims at answering to is “can we apply or must we apply the traditional EU consumer legislation to these new and innovative economic activities? And, if yes, how to apply them?”
Moreover, this lecture aims at deepen the most significant issues concerning competition law in the field of sharing economy services, and notably:
a) Market Access. whether and if so to what extent, under existing EU law, collaborative platforms and service providers can be subject to market access requirements.
b) Unfair competition. While providers enabled by sharing economy firms do compete with regulated providers of the same service, it is unclear why the firms themselves should be subject to those regulations (case Uber vs. traditional taxis).

this paper delves into the consequences of Brexit upon EU consumer law. After Brexit, in fact, fears that all the legal (along with economic, political and social) achievements within the EU could have been com- promised were, and – to some extent – are, real. However, this essay ta- kes the argument that the body of consumer law will not be significantly affected by Brexit. In order to substantiate this position, several legal instruments (both European and British) are addressed and investigated in a comparative perspective. Such analysis strengthens, indeed, the be- lief that EU and UK consumer disciplines are alike and are destined to be alike even after Brexit. Furthermore, such conclusions can also be drawn by the analysis of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, entered into on December 24th, 2020. Therefore, the paper explains that the Sha- kespearian quotation which would properly describe the consequences of Brexit upon consumer law is not the Hamletic doubt, but the comedy entitled “Much Ado About Nothing”.

The paper adopts the perspective of “law and literature” studies to investigate how the French novel ‘Lives others than my own (D’autres vies que la mienne)’ by Emmanuel Carrère addresses the evolutions of European Union law on unfair terms in consumer contracts. By looking at European Union law from the perspective of individual lives, the essay compares the way in which literature and EU law conceive three categories of individuals involved: consumers, moneylenders and judges. Carrère’s novel is taken as an example to challenge the stereotype according to which literature expresses a sympathetic and partisan conception of social reality compared to the one of law.

In the context of current pandemic crisis due, social distancing and quarantine measures were imposed by states due to the high risk of infection by going out of the house for buying the goods and services that are required. Naturally, there has been an increase in online acquisitions, use of online entertainment and online tools for professional purposes. This has increased the level of demand alongside the consumption in the online sector which forces the suppliers to become more inventive in order to sell their products and services and make them more accessible, price wise, in better meet the expectations. Unfortunately, this being a highly abrupt shift with no precedence, forcing the traders and providers in the online sector to cut corners in order to keep up and, as a consequence, may affect the consumers. All these being said, although we speak about unprecedented context, the European Union, over the last two decades, has enacted more directives and regulations in order to ...

Il contributo analizza i più recenti sviluppi a livello dell'Unione europea in materia di nozione di consumatore e della sua tutela collettiva, traendo spunto dalla sentenza Schrems v. FB Vol. II - Causa C-498/16. A tal fine, in primo luogo, viene svolto un esame della figura del consumatore nell'ambito della giurisprudenza della Corte di Giustizia. In secondo luogo, ci si propone di ricostruire il quadro europeo - sia normativo, che giurisprudenziale - relativo agli strumenti collettivi per la tutela consumeristica. A tale ultimo riguardo, facendo particolare riferimento a una recente proposta della Commissione europea - nota con il nome di New deal per i consumatori -, il cui obiettivo sarebbe l'introduzione di un'azione di classe risarcitoria consumeristica a vocazione europea.

This paper aims at analyzing the most recent developments within the EU framework regarding the notion of consumer and its collective protection, starting from a recent ECJ decision (Cause C-498/16), which has stimulated discussions on these two topics. To begin with, the article analyzes the jurisprudence on the notion of consumer. Followingly, the paper takes into account the EU legal framework on collective remedies for consumer protection: it takes into account both the jurisprudence and the several documents issued by the EU organs. In this last respect, it is dedicated particular attention to a recent proposal of the EU Commission - so called New deal for consumer protection -, the approval of which would introduce a European damages class action for consumer protection.

The aim of this paper is to compare the regulation of the right of withdrawal in US and European Law. Both coincide in granting the right of withdrawal to a special category of individuals, namely consumers, due to the situation of information asymmetry in which they find themselves vis-à-vis traders. In addition, the consumer can invoke this right when concluding particularly complex contracts (e.g., consumer credit contracts) or in those cases in which he is subject to pressure or the so-called “surprise factor” at the time of entering into the contract (e.g., door-to-door sales). However, beyond these coincidences, the European and US rights of withdrawal differ greatly in several aspects. To begin with, the European Union has been very generous and flexible when regulating this concept, while in the USA the legislation is quite a bit more restricted and limited. Hence, retail “return policies”, designed to offer consumers the option of returning merchandise for predetermined reasons within a stipulated period, play a vital role in understanding consumer withdrawal rights in the USA. These differences and many other issues will be addressed here with a view to determining whether US law might be used as a model to improve the regulation of the right of withdrawal in the EU.

One of the key objectives of Directive 2013/11/EU (the Consumer ADR Directive) has been to promote high quality ADR entities through the creation of a certification scheme for ADR providers. In parallel, the Directive has also established a monitoring framework in which Member States' 'Competent Authorities' play pivotal roles to ensure ADR providers' continuous performance and compliance. Against this background, key questions arise with regard to the enforcement of those quality standards, and the behaviour of those entities that are in charge of monitoring. While presenting the particularities of ADR monitoring schemes established in Member States, this paper argues that, despite the efforts made to promote high quality ADR schemes, the Consumer ADR Directive has ultimately fallen short of securing a consistent approach to ADR monitoring across the EU and has left open the possibility for patchy and disorganised initiatives at Member States' level. This is due to the high number of national Competent Authorities currently operating in the EU and issues with monitoring architectures, insufficiency of the quality standards set out in the Directive, and risks of highly diverging monitoring behaviour from Competent Authorities. Moreover, the possible coexistence of certified and non-certified ADR providers in some Member States tends to undermine the overall homogeneity of ADR sectors and creates confusion for consumers. A more structured and effective approach to ADR monitoring is needed for meeting consumers' expectations, ensuring consistency, and creating a levelled playing field for all ADR providers. Competent Authorities have the capacity to contribute significantly to a better rationalisation of ADR sectors, and a better embedment of ADR within civil justice systems. Revised monitoring architectures should help maximise their interventions.

The text tries to identify and structure the newly-arising phenomena in the sphere of formal requirements, triggered by the European private law. It deals, in particular, with EU rules on consumer contracts - the broadest and the most significant sphere of novel occurrences in the sphere of formalities. The paper addresses both the general issues (especially functions of formal requirements and their array) , as well as indicates discusses more particular problems (for instance, form of a withdrawal declaration). It draws also attention to peculiarities of transposition of rules on formalities into domestic legal systems of the EU Member States. // The article has been published in "Studia Prawa Prywatnego" quarterly, No. 1/2017

The article offers an additional rationale and argumentation model for compensation in case of delayed connecting flights where the delay of each of the flight segments does not exceed the three-hour delay threshold but where the final destination is reached with a delay beyond the threshhold as established by the court of the European Union ("Sturgeon"-decision).

A loan contract in the judicial practice of ordinary Polish courts // The report from an empirical study, carried out in the Institute of Justice (Instytut Wymiaru Sprawiedliwości) in Warsaw  in 2015–2016 (empirical part) and in 2017–2018 (analytical part). It embraced a sample of 367 cases, decided by Polish ordinary courts in 2015-2016. The bulk of the analyzed data encompassed consumer loans - especially micro-loans concluded beyond the banking sector (including peer-to-peer lending and the role of online platforms). The study focuses on judicial practice and through these lenses attempts to understand better the functioning and dysfunctionality of law applicable to loan agreements, with particular regard to consumer contract law.

The internationalisation of higher education remains one of the major challenges faced by universities with the increasing mobility and rising expectations of a highly diversified student community worldwide. With the competitiveness of the industry, universities will need to focus on factors influencing student satisfaction to improve service quality where required. This paper draws on the theory of cognitive dissonance dealining with disconformation of expectations that results in customer satisfaction and using structural equation modelling, investigates factors that influence satisfaction of international postgraduate students from Asian countries studying in Australia and concludes with strategic implications for universities.