Category Archives: Consumer Law
Christine Abely, ‘Contracting for Consumer Trade Compliance’
ABSTRACT Export compliance is becoming increasingly important for parties required to abide by US law, including many online sellers of consumer products. These retailers’ contractual terms with their customers set forth a number of provisions governing the relationship between them, including those which deal with arbitration, indemnification, disclaimer of warranties, and other issues. Many such […]
Gomis-Porqueras and Wang, ‘Credit, Privacy, and Data Monetization by Digital Platforms’
ABSTRACT Digital platforms collect extensive personal information from users while often, at the same time, provide credit services. We study the interaction between data monetization and credit provision. Data monetization creates incentives for a monopolistic platform to subsidize credit, enabling it to compete with traditional financial institutions even when it faces higher costs. Credit services […]
‘Pets as baggage in air travel – CJEU in Iberia (C-218/24)’
From an outsider’s perspective, the recent judgment may appear controversial. ‘Pets as baggage’ is likely to strike non-lawyers as dehumanising – suggesting that animals are treated as mere objects. However, lawyers may appreciate the legal advantages of such classification. Under international travel rules, such as the Montreal Convention, categorising pets as baggage can trigger compensation […]
Bartholomew and Becher, ‘The End of Shopping’
ABSTRACT Self-acting ‘shopping agents’ are no longer science fiction. Deployed by major platforms like Google, Amazon, and Walmart, AI systems are evolving from passive advisors to autonomous decision-makers capable of opening accounts, canceling subscriptions, and finalizing purchases without human oversight. Though AI shopping agents have the potential to improve consumer satisfaction and marketplace competition, shopping […]
Beau Baez, ‘Unfit For Human Consumption: A Bone to Pick with Boneless Wings’
ABSTRACT This article examines defective food laws after a recent case where the Ohio Supreme Court held that ‘boneless’ chicken wings can contain bones. The result in that case is a man with permanent and significant injuries is precluded from recovering for his harm after eating a ‘boneless wing’ with a bone hidden inside. The […]
‘“Consumer” Protection for Small Businesses’
Rachel G Ngo Ntomp, ‘The Small Business Dilemma’, 81 Washington and Lee Law Review 1939 (2025). Although often eclipsed by the prominence of large companies, small businesses play a critical role in helping to grow our economy. Their size, market footprint, resources, experience, and sophistication levels are as varied as the goods and services they […]
‘EU modernises consumer dispute resolution: An overview of the new ADR Directive’
On 25 September 2025, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) of the European Parliament approved the text of the political agreement on the Alternative Disputes Resolution for Consumer Disputes Directive. This Directive establishes a framework for resolving through ADR procedures contractual domestic and cross-border consumer disputes arising from the sale of goods or […]
Carter and Grossi, ‘“I am not your friend”: contract in counselling and psychotherapy’
ABSTRACT The largest professional body of counsellors in Australia defines the relationship between counsellor and client as contractual ‘and nothing else’. While contract law has been traditionally associated with ‘rational’, arms-length, commercial relationships, counselling and psychotherapy have been associated with intimate, emotional relationships, work, and exchange. What is the significance, therefore, of these seemingly dissonant […]
Asta Zokaityte, ‘UK Car Finance Mis-selling: Reassessing Legal and Regulatory Challenges within Consumer Credit Markets’
ABSTRACT This article examines the regulatory dimensions of the UK’s car finance mis-selling scandal, focusing on the structural features of PCP agreements. While current legal interventions emphasise transparency and informed choice regarding commissions, I argue that such measures are poorly equipped to address the embedded inequalities characteristic of intermediated consumer credit markets. PCPs, though marketed […]
Anthony Rosborough, ‘A Conceptual Map of the Right to Repair (Where Upcycling Fits In)’
ABSTRACT The chapter maps contemporary approaches to the Right to Repair along a spectrum from decentralised freedoms to centralised standard setting and product design. Decentralised approaches propose a Right to Repair that resembles a ‘negative right’ in that it protects user autonomy through dismantling legal and market barriers. Centralised repairability models, on the other hand, […]