This book consists of contributions exploring from different perspectives the ‘images’ of the consumer in EU law. The images of the consumer form the foundation for various EU policies, more or less directly oriented towards the goal of consumer protection. The purpose of the volume is to establish what visions of the consumer there are in different contexts of EU law, whether they are consistent, and whether EU law’s engagement with consumer-related considerations is sincere or merely instrumental to the achievement of other goals. The chapters discuss how consumers should be protected in EU contract, competition, free movement and trade mark law. They reflect on the limits of the consumer empowerment rationale as the basis for EU consumer policy. The chapters look also at the variety of concerns consumers might have, including the cost of goods and services, access to credit, ethical questions of consumption, the challenges of excessive choice and the possibility to influence the content of regulatory measures, and explore the significance of these issues for the EU’s legislative and judicial process.
1. The Images of the Consumer in EU Law DOROTA LECZYKIEWICZ AND STEPHEN WEATHERILL 2. The Consumer: Marketised, Fragmentised, Constitutionalised HANS-W MICKLITZ 3. The Images of the ‘Consumer’ in EU Competition Law ALBERTINA ALBORS-LLORENS AND ALISON JONES 4. Seeking the EU ‘Consumer’ in Services of General Economic Interest ANGUS JOHNSTON 5. Vulnerable Consumers in EU Law NORBERT REICH 6. Changing Policy Paradigms of EU Consumer Credit and Debt Regulation IAIN RAMSAY 7. The Importance of Law and Harmonisation for the EU’s Confident Consumer CHRISTIAN TWIGG-FLESNER 8. Empowerment is not the only Fruit STEPHEN WEATHERILL 9. Targeted Consumer Protection STEFAN GRUNDMANN 10. The Consumer as Regulator CHRISTOPHER HODGES 11. Regulatory Cost, the Consumer, and the EU Constitutional Framework DOROTA LECZYKIEWICZ 12. Ethical Consumption and the Internal Market LUCINDA MILLER 13. Conformity of Goods, the Network Society, and the Ethical Consumer HUGH COLLINS 14. The Consumer, the Citizen, and the Human Being GARETH DAVIES 15. The Image of the Consumer in EU Trade Mark Law GRAEME B DINWOODIE AND DEV S GANGJEE 16. The Consumer in European Regulatory Private Law VANESSA MAK 17. The Court of Justice’s ‘Paradigm Consumer’ in EU Free Movement Law SYBE A DE VRIES 18. Europe’s (Lack of) Vision on Consumer Protection: A Case of Rhetoric Hiding Substance? GERAINT HOWELLS 19. A Short History of Consumer Policy in the EU SIDNEY FREEDMAN
Dorota Leczykiewicz is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Peter's College. Stephen Weatherill is the Jacques Delors Professor of European Law at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Somerville College.
Reviews for The Images of the Consumer in EU Law: Legislation, Free Movement and Competition Law
By gathering leading experts and prominent scholars under a common roof, Professors Dorota Leczykiewicz and Stephen Weatherill have contributed significantly to the everlasting discussion about the image of the consumer in EU Law ... The valuable conclusions of the authors who have contributed to this publication should be taken seriously and used by EU policy-makers as a valuable source for the improvement of EU consumer protection policy. This publication goes beyond a mere contribution to the scholarly writings on EU law or consumer protection law. -- Emilia Miscenic, University of Rijeka * European Law Review *
