Price comparison is a basic element of competition. For comparison to work, at least prices need to be transparent. Moreover, price is usually a focal point in consumer thinking and deciding on transactions. Hence, obfuscating prices can be detrimental to consumers. Therefore, it is vital for...

In recent policy discussions, a need is expressed for more substantive control over terms in consumer contracts. This paper comments on one example of this expressed need, namely the suggestion to extend the scope of the fairness test to cover price and main subject matter and the discipline of...

Consumers and users are daily involved in commercial practices and transactions that can end up not pacifically. We buy items and services, we travel, we use public services and vehicles and we enter into contracts with banks, insurance and financial services companies. The disputes arising from...

Recently, EU Consumer law has undergone a ‘Fitness Check' (or REFIT). We thought that checking the fitness for purpose of a body of law would involve revisiting its purpose. This is why we expected to find in the rich REFIT documentation (over 4000 pages of studies and Commission documents) an...

This paper argues that the EU's notion of the “confident consumer” over-emphasises the significance of law, and harmonised law in particular, as an end in itself, without considering properly (i) all the various issues which affect consumer confidence, and (ii) whether the legal rules...

Behavioural economics is shedding much-needed new light on how consumer law and policy could be re-shaped to reflect more accurately the way consumers really behave, rather than how they ought to behave on the basis of the economic model of the rational consumer. This contribution considers what...

In this paper I will describe the implementation of the Consumer Rights Directive, or CRD, in The Netherlands. Section 2 will deal with the provisions of the implementing act and the relation between these provisions and other provisions of consumer law. Section 3 will discuss the relationship...

Collective redress has been on the EU civil justice agenda for a long time, and has triggered considerable debate as a result of the complexity of the matter and the hugely diverging approaches in the Member States. The 2013 Recommendation on collective redress was the result of compromises, and...

The key argument of this contribution is that there is a case for harmonisation of the rules for online rating and review systems at the European level in order to create a level playing field for the collaborative economy. Following the model of the ‘new approach’ which has been efficient...