Cyber consumer law : State of the art and perspectives
Coteanu, C.G.
Citation
Coteanu, C. G. (2005, December 20). Cyber consumer law : State of the art and
perspectives. Meijers-reeks. Humanitas, Roemenië. Retrieved from
https://hdl.handle.net/1887/4387
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Corrected Publisher’s Version
License:
Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the
Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden
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Cyber Consumer Law
S tate of th e A rt and P ersp ec tiv es
P R O E F S CH R IF T
ter v erk rijg ing v an
d e g raad v an D oc tor aan d e U niv ersiteit Leid en, op g ez ag v an d e R ec tor M ag nific us d r. D .D . B reimer, h oog leraar in d e fac ulteit d er W isk und e en
N atuurwetensc h ap p en en d ie d er G eneesk und e, v olg ens besluit v an h et Colleg e v oor P romoties te v erd ed ig en op d insd ag 2 0 d ec ember
k lok k e 1 6 .1 5 uur
door
G . Cristina Coteanu
Promotiecommissie:
promotores: Prof. dr. H.J. van den Herik
Prof. dr. G. Howells (University of Lancaster) referent: Prof. dr. E.H. Hondius (Universiteit Utrecht) leden: Prof. dr. R.E. van Esch
Prof. dr. Jac. Hijma
Prof. dr. A. Oskamp (V rije Universiteit Amsterdam) Prof. dr. A.H.J. Schmidt
Prof. dr. C. Stuurman (Universiteit van Tilburg)
SIK S dissertation series no 2005-20
The research reported in this thesis has been carried out under the auspicies of SIK S, the Dutch Research School for Information and K nowledge Systems. Lay-out: Anne-Marie K rens – Tekstbeeld – Oegstgeest
ISBN: 97 3 -50-1106-9 © 2005 G.C. Coteanu
Alle rechten voorbehouden. Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden verveelvoudigd, opgeslagen in een geautomati-seerd gegevensbestand, of openbaar gemaakt, in enige vorm of op enige wijze, hetzij elektronisch, mechanisch, door fotokopieën, opnamen of enige andere manier, zonder voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van de auteur.
V oorzover het maken van kopieën uit deze uitgave is toegestaan op grond van art. 16b Auteurswet 1912 jo. het Besluit van 20 juni 197 4 , Stb. 3 51, zoals gewijzigd bij Besluit van 23 augustus 1985, Stb. 4 7 1, en art. 17 Auteurswet 1912, dient men de daarvoor wettelijk verschuldigde vergoedingen te voldoen aan de Stichting Reprorecht (Postbus 3 051, 213 0 K B Hoofddorp). V oor het overnemen van gedeelte(n) uit deze uitgave in bloemlezingen, readers en andere compilatiewerken (art. 16 Auteurswet 1912) dient men zich tot de auteur te wenden.
Preface
E v ery o n e w h o is d o in g res earch k n o w s th at th e d es ire to d o res earch is th e k ey to m o tiv atio n , b u t th at m u s t b e co m p lem en ted b y d eterm in atio n an d co m m itm en t to an u n relen tin g p u rs u it o f h is1 o w n g o al. In 2 0 0 0 , w h en I
s tarted m y res earch , th e area o f cy b er co n s u m er law w as s carce an d o n ly d o m in ated b y a few v iew s o f w h ich th e co re id ea o f p o ten tial res earch w as v ery s im p le: is th ere a n eed fo r reg u latio n o v er th e In tern et? W h ile co n s u m ers ’ p ro b lem s w ere fam iliar g ro u n d , v iew s o n th is q u es tio n d id n o t h av e s u fficien t tim e to b e ex p lo red carefu lly . W h at cy b er co n s u m er law is an d w h y it is th at w ay are tw o q u es tio n s , b u t h o w cy b er co n s u m er law s h all p ro tect co n s u m ers is th e m ain q u es tio n . W e d id n o t h av e tim e to fin d o u t w h at th e cy b er co n -s u m er law o u g h t to b e.
T h e reality s h o w s th at s o m etim es v iew s w h ich m ig h t b e co n s id ered b y s o m eo n e as u n realis tic, can fin ally b eco m e reality . C ertain ly , it w o u ld h av e b een m u ch eas ier fo r m e at th at tim e to co n s tru ct o n th e ex is tin g v iew s an ev alu atio n o f ex is tin g s o lu tio n s . H o w ev er, I am co n v in ced th at th e ‘v is io n ’ o f a res earch er can n ev er b e rep laced b y th e n eed o f b ein g o n ly critical. W h en I firs t lau n ch ed m y v iew s o n th e n eed o f a ‘d eo n to lo g y ’ o f fair trad in g , i.e, a co d e o f co n d u ct fo r trad ers an d m ad e an alo g ies w ith th e leg al an d m ed ical p ro fes s io n , s o m eo n e co n s id ered th at ‘it is d is tu rb in g to m ak e th is an alo g y in a res earch rep o rt. T rad ers are n o t a ‘p ro fes s io n ’. T h ey en g ag e in co m m erce w ith a v iew to m ak in g a p ro fit w ith in th e ru les o f th e m ark etp lace.’
S ev eral m o n th s after co m p letin g m y res earch , th e E u ro p ean C o m m is s io n lau n ch ed a D irectiv e o n U n fair T rad in g Practices w h ich ap p ro ach ed s p ecific is s u es o n th e p ro h ib itio n o f u n fair co m m ercial p ractices . It d em o n s trates th at th e m o s t s ig n ifican t co n trib u tio n s in a res earch area g o b ey o n d th e d o s e o f criticis m u s ed b y s o m eo n e an d rath er rely o n th e v is io n to rev eal a reality w h ich m ig h t s eem im p ercep tib le to o th ers .
C ris tin a C o tean u L eid en , D ecem b er 2 0 , 2 0 0 5
Table of contents
1 IN TR O D U C TIO N 1
1.1 P r oblem statem ent 1
1.2 R esear ch g oals 3
1.3 R esear ch q u estions 11
1.4 M eth od olog y 15
1.5 Th e r esear ch p laced in contex t 16
1.6 Innov ation 16
2 TH E IN F R A S TR U C TU R E O F TH E E L E C TR O N IC M A R K E TP L A C E 19 2 .1 A basis for u nd er stand ing th e electr onic m ar k etp lace 2 0 2 .2 Ty p olog y of inter net ser v ices to consu m er 2 3 2 .3 E lectr onic m ar k etp lace asB 2 C com m er cial r elationsh ip 2 7
2 .4 C h ap ter conclu sions 3 6
3 EL E C TR O N IC M A R K E T F A IL U R E S A N D C O N S U M E R S’C O N F ID E N C E 3 9 3 .1 A ssu m p tion of a p er fect electr onic m ar k etp lace 4 0 3 .2 C ase stu d ies illu str ating electr onic m ar k et failu r es 4 3 3 .3 V ir tu al or g anisation of com p anies 5 0
3 .4 E lectr onic r ecor d s 5 3
3 .5 E lectr onic p ay m ent 6 0
3 .6 C h ap ter conclu sions 6 8
4 O N L IN E C O N TR A C TS 7 1
4 .1 S tand ar d isation in online contr acts 7 3 4 .2 A u th or itar ian contr actu al p r ocess 8 1 4 .3 A m big u ou s p r esentation of ter m s and cond itions 8 9
4 .4 N on-neg otiability 9 4
4 .5 C h ap ter conclu sions 9 9
5 EL E C TR O N IC A G E N TS 10 1
5 .1 E lectr onic ag ents in online consu m er tr ansactions 10 3 5 .2 N eg otiation v ia electr onic ag ents 114 5 .3 C onclu d ing contr acts v ia electr onic ag ents 12 2
VIII Table of contents
6 ONLINEDISPUTERESOLUTION(ODR) 131
6.1 Starting points forODR 134
6.2 Functional mechanisms ofODRinB2C 140 6.3 The causes of unequal bargaining pow er 144 6.4 Causes of unequal bargaining pow er related to the redress
costs 149
6.5 Causes of unequal bargaining pow er related to mandatory
ODRclauses 150
6.6 Provision of information aboutODRprocedures 155
6.7 Fairness inODRprocedures 157
6.8 Chapter conclusions 160
7 DISCLOSURE OF ONLINE INFORMATION 165
7.1 General requirements 167
7.2 The principles of providing information 174 7.3 Disclosure of information – tw o perspectives 177
7.4 Asymmetry of information 184
7.5 From asymmetry to dominance 186
7.6 Chapter conclusions 190
8 ONLINE ADVERTISING 193
8.1 Failures of the electronic market 195 8.2 The current legal framew ork on online misleading
advertising 204
8.3 The current legal framew ork on unsolicited
commercial communications 208
8.4 The enforcement 211
8.5 Chapter conclusions 217
9 PRINCIPLE OF FAIR TRADING IN CONSUMER COMMERCIAL PRACTICE 219
9.1 Evolution of the principle 221
9.2 TheUKlegal system 225
9.3 Unfair commercial practices in the European Union 228
9.4 Recommendations 237
9.5 Chapter conclusions 240
10 TOW ARDS ANINTERNATIONALPRINCIPLE OFFAIRTRADING 243
10.1 Areas of action 245
10.2 General prohibition 247
10.3 Precautionary view versus remedial view 255
10.4 Compliance and enforcement 260
