JOURNAL OF CONSUMER POLICY最新文献

In the digital economy, consumer vulnerability is not simply a vantage point from which to assess some consumers' lack of ability to activate their awareness of persuasion. Instead, digital vulnerability describes a universal state of defencelessness and susceptibility to (the exploitation of) power imbalances that are the result of the increasing automation of commerce, datafied consumer-seller relations, and the very architecture of digital marketplaces. Digital vulnerability, we argue, is architectural, relational, and data-driven. Based on our concept of digital vulnerability, we demonstrate how and why using digital technology to render consumers vulnerable is the epitome of an unfair digital commercial practice.

Chilean consumer law and policy has a short but enthralling history. As compared with other jurisdictions such as EU countries, its bedrock is still in formation, particularly pertaining to its envisaged role in the regulatory spectrum applicable to consumer markets. However, this circumstance has not been a serious obstacle to several reforms carried out in recent years aimed at broadening its scope of action, including rethinking a proposal regarding the policy goals to be addressed by the national consumer agency, SERNAC. In that context, this article presents a brief account of the main features of Chilean consumer law, considering the current socioeconomic development level of the country, the main pieces of legislation concerning consumer protection in the Chilean legal framework-notably the Chilean Consumer Protection Act-as well as key elements of the public policy approach in this matter. A few examples of topics such as product liability and sale and purchase of consumer goods are also analysed in order to allow a comparison of the Chilean experience in consumer protection with other jurisdictions.

Car traffic and accidents involving cars create an enormous societal cost, particularly in terms of negative consequences for public health. Mitigating these effects is a daily concern for public and private institutions and people around the world. At least a subset of accidents is attributable to the amount of risk drivers allow in their driving and in related behaviour like mobile phone use or substance abuse. Our study looks at the effect of car size on risk taking. While literature highlights several behavioural effects of car size, the direction of causality of these effects is not always clear, and empirical evidence is lacking. Two behavioural and consequential studies support that car size affects risk taking in driving and that this increase in risk taking generalizes to other domains as well. Based on these results and in line with literature showing that social stability and security can affect financial risk taking, we propose the "car cushion hypothesis." This hypothesis suggests that bigger cars make people feel more secure, which affects their behaviour in terms of generalized risk taking. We discuss policy implications aimed at contributing to reducing the societal and public health cost of car traffic.

This paper analyses the influence of European Law on Brazilian Consumer Law. It starts by describing the general features of Brazilian Consumer Protection law, including the constitutional dimension of consumer protection, and the introduction of the Brazilian Consumer Protection and Defence Code (CDC). It also highlights product liability, product safety, and product warranties. Some of these topics are illustrated by the case of the telecommunications sector.

Trust is a valuable resource that varies between countries. This paper suggests that consumers' trust in retailers and service providers, facilitating interactions and transactions between sellers and buyers in impersonal markets, is best understood as generalized trust. The paper is based on 28 037 respondents' evaluations of consumer conditions in 30 European countries. The material reveals large country-to-country variations in the percentages of residents who trust public authorities to protect their consumer rights. Moreover, there are large differences in the percentages who trust retailers and service providers to respect their rights as consumers. A multilevel path analysis supports the paper's main hypothesis that fair and effective consumer authorities enhance generalized trust in the markets. The analyses also demonstrate that fair and effective consumer institutions contribute to more equality in the markets. It is argued that consumer markets are important arenas for the maintenance and production of trust and social capital. And that generalized trust produced in markets will probably extend to, and be valuable for, the wider society.

UNCTAD's mandate is threefold. It facilitates consensus building, provides research and analysis and offers technical assistance and capacity building to developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Since the 1980s, UNCTAD has been providing technical assistance and capacity building for those same countries in adopting or revising consumer protection legislation and policies, also to increase complementarity with trade and industrial policies and as a means of achieving Sustainable Development Goals. UNCTAD's COMPAL Programme has had a significant and positive impact in improving consumer protection regimes and institutions in Latin America. The EU and UNCTAD should partner in continuing and expanding COMPAL in the years to come for the benefit of Latin American and European consumers.

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 current 2010 Consumer Protection and Defence Code with regard to consumer sales (defective products), and the regime of abusive clauses, to which is added a reference to protection of personal data.