Empowering consumers: Towards a broader interpretation of the vulnerable consumer concept in the European Union

Abstract

The European Union, while acknowledging the pitfalls of problematic consumer markets, seems largely unwilling to deviate from an inflexible standard of consumer behaviour based on the ideal of the average consumer as a reasonably well-informed and observant market participant. The article aims to contrast this high consumer standard with the alternatives offered by the vulnerable consumer concept. The first part of the article deals with the notion of the average consumer as defined in European Union law and its interpretation by the European Court of Justice, particularly in cases concerning problematic markets. This is followed by a brief analysis of two potential interpretations of consumer vulnerability developed in the consumer protection literature. The final chapter examines in more detail the appearance of a singular major exception to the average consumer concept within the European Union consumer protection regime: the narrow scope of consumers acknowledged as ‘particularly vulnerable.’