Category Archives: Consumer Law
Daniel Engler and others, ‘Do Individuals Prefer Stricter Supply Chain Laws? Empirical Evidence from Germany’
ABSTRACT Inspired by the controversial debate in the EU about legal initiatives to protect human rights and the environment along supply chains (eg, the CSDDD), this paper examines individual preferences for different designs of supply chain laws that are stricter than the current national legislation. Our econometric analysis is based on data from a representative […]
Jannusch, Ressel, Völler and Mullins, ‘Consumer Reactions to AI Enabled Surveillance of Drivers: The Case of Pay as You Drive Insurance Products’
ABSTRACT There is a deep literature developing around the use of AI in better understanding consumer behaviour and in offering opportunities to promote changes in attitudes and indeed conduct. We make the case that pay-how-you-drive offers a tangible way to better understand how citizens might react to surveillance systems that penalise certain actions. Such systems […]
Julia Patterson Forrester Rogers, ‘Facilitating Mortgage Modification to Save Homes and Mitigate Lender Losses’
ABSTRACT Homeowners in financial distress or whose home has been damaged by natural disaster may avoid foreclosure if their lender agrees to modify the loan to reduce payments. Commercial loans may also be modified to avoid foreclosure or in response to changed circumstances or changing market conditions. Although loan modifications are generally beneficial to both […]
Antonia Sommerfeld, ‘Claiming the EU Right to Repair from Manufacturers in Cross-Border Contexts’
ABSTRACT Starting in August 2026, consumers purchasing goods within the EU will gain new rights of repair for a number of electronic household products specified in the EU Repair Directive (RD). This development will help support a sustainability transition towards a Circular Economy. The Directive’s two-pronged approach vests the consumer with a right to repair […]
Jeff Sovern, ‘Buy Now, Protect Later’
ABSTRACT The consumer finance industry frequently develops new types of loans and business models, such as buy now, pay later and earned wage access. While these products may help consumers, they also pose risks. To take only one example, consumers may unwittingly assume unaffordable obligations. These problems and others could be ameliorated by appropriate regulation. […]
Ludovic Phalippou, ‘Private Markets for the People? Or Just More People for Private Markets?’
ABSTRACT I examine the push to expand private equity access to retail investors, often described as ‘democratization’. I argue that this shift exposes individuals to high fees, opaque structures, and misleading performance metrics. Without strong governance and transparency, this is not democratization but exploitation. I highlight the risks embedded in current product design and call […]
Chan, Velez-Echeverri, Setzer and Higham, ‘Consumer Protection and Climate Change’
ABSTRACT This Chapter explores the impact of climate-washing litigation on private law development, focusing on the Global South, where these cases remain underexplored. It provides a mapping of climate-washing claims and their outcomes, highlighting how they have predominantly emerged in the Global North, often framed within consumer protection laws. However, an emerging group of cases […]
Michelle Cumyn, ‘Standard Form Contracts and the Erosion of Consent: Is There No Turning Back?’
ABSTRACT This Article draws on sources from Canada, England, France, Germany, and the United States to appraise Western law’s treatment of standard form contracts. Courts currently recognize standard clauses as express contractual terms, even when it would not be reasonable to expect adhering parties to read and understand them. Standard forms are undemocratic because they […]
Frederick Rieländer, ‘Policing Consumer Contract Terms under US and EU Law: A Comparative Analysis of the Directive 93/13/EEC on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts and the Restatement of Consumer Contracts’
ABSTRACT The control of standard contract terms has become one of the most important yet controversial areas of contract law. By comparing the Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts with the recently adopted US Restatement of Consumer Contracts, this Article sheds light on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the EU and US […]
Yibo Li, ‘Characterising Ecosystem Power: the Use of Pricing and Contractual Leverages’
ABSTRACT This paper presents a conceptualisation and characterisation of ecosystem power, distinguishing it from market power and bargaining power. Unlike market power, which primarily concerns external relationships of a firm, and bargaining power, which addresses bilateral relationships, ecosystem power operates through multisided relationships, shaping pricing and contractual structures and determining welfare distribution among stakeholders within […]