EU consumer law generally refers to rights which facilitate the economic participation of EU citizens in the internal market. Social rights, which extend to other aspects of consumers' lives such as employment, social inclusion, and environmental protection, are perceived to fall outside the...

This chapter gives a bird's eye overview of EU financial services regulation.The first part gives a brief map of the areas of law – public, private, self-regulation – in which EU financial services regulation is situated. Part two discusses one of the goals of EU financial services law,...

This paper explores what normative choices have been made with regard to the image(s) of the consumer in European regulatory private law (ERPL), and whether these choices may (or may not) need revision as insights on consumers' needs for protection evolve

This chapter aims to give an overview of the contractual issues that have arisen in relation to the use of data. Since the use of data has far-reaching consequences for consumer markets, the chapter focuses on issues that have arisen in those markets and the regulatory responses that have...

This paper addresses the options proposed in the European Commission’s Green Paper on European Contract Law from the viewpoint of law-making in European consumer law. In contrast to general contract law, this field is governed by mandatory, regulatory law rather than non-mandatory, default...

The involvement of EU law in business-to-consumer (B2C) private law relationships is bounded. Regulation originates partly at EU level and partly in national law, leading to fragmentation and legal uncertainty. To counter this problem, this chapter aims to give a new perspective on lawmaking in...

Divergence in European consumer law is increased by the different approaches to ‘average consumers' found in national laws and in EU law. The ‘average consumer' concept of EU law relies on the ability of consumers to make rational decisions. In accordance with this prototype of a...

In EU free movements regulation, the average consumer is regarded as someone who is ‘reasonably circumspect' and able to look after his own interests. National legislation aiming at offering a higher degree of protection is often struck down, in this light, as creating unjustified barriers to...