The Regulatory Consumer in EU and National Law? Case Study of the Normative Concept of the Consumer in Hungary and Poland

• Authors: Cseres Katalin
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper analyzes the question how EU and national laws implemented and how courts and regulatory authorities apply two opposing regulatory approaches and the corresponding legally defined images of consumers in market regulation: the active and responsible consumer concept on the one side along with the more protective concept of vulnerable consumers on the other side. The paper examines the normative concept of the consumer from a broad perspective of market regulation by focussing on unfair commercial practices as this is a horizontal instrument involving a broad range of transactions in various markets and because the Unfair Commercial practices Directive 2005/29 specifically lays down the normative concept of the consumer (both ‘average’ and ‘vulnerable’) in its provisions. The analysis proceeds on the basis of the normative standard as developed in the ECJ’s jurisprudence on free movement rules and further provides a case study of two Central and Eastern European Member States – Hungary and Poland. It examines how EU law and national laws implemented, and how the ECJ and national courts and regulatory authorities interpret the normative concepts of the consumer (both ‘average’ and ‘vulnerable’). The specific questions the paper analyzes are: Do the existing normative notions of the ‘average’ consumer and the definition of consumers in EU and national law correspond to public policy discourse on consumers’ active role in regulating markets? How do these laws address the vulnerability of consumers? How do the EU and national law notions conceptually link to each other? And most importantly how do courts and regulatory authorities interpret these notions? The paper finds that while there are clear normative concepts of the consumer in the legislation and EU free movement jurisprudence, their application in other fields of EU consumer law, as well as in national law, demonstrate a more nuanced image of the consumer. The paper argues that the legal rules and the envisaged concepts of the consumer need to be enriched by insights from law enforcement. Moreover, both law and law enforcement must be informed both of how markets evolve and how the role of consumers changes as well as enriched by the results from other social sciences, most notably behavioural economics studying consumer behaviour.

FR

Cet article analyse la question comment le droit de l’Union européenne et le droit national mettent en œuvre, ainsi que comment les tribunaux et les autorités de régulation appliquent, deux approches réglementaires opposées à l’image légal du consommateur dans le domaine de la réglementation des marchés : d’une part le concept de consommateur actif et responsable, et d’autre part le concept plus protectrice de consommateur vulnérable. L’article examine le concept normatif du consommateur dans une large perspective de régulation du marché en mettant l'accent sur des pratiques commerciales déloyales. C’est parce que c’est un instrument horizontal qui implique un vaste éventail de transactions sur les différents marchés et parce que le Directive 2005/29 relative aux pratiques commerciales déloyales des entreprises prévoit le concept normatif du consommateur (« moyen » et « vulnérable ») dans ses dispositions. L’analyse est basée sur le standard normatif développé dans la jurisprudence de la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne concernant les dispositions sur la libre circulation, mais elle fournit aussi une étude de cas de deux États Membres d’Europe centrale et orientale - la Hongrie et la Pologne. Il examine comment le droit de l’Union européenne et les droits nationaux mettent en œuvre, et comment la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne, les cours nationales et les autorités de régulation interprètent, les concepts normatifs du consommateur (« moyen » et « vulnérable »). Les questions spécifiques analysées dans l’article sont suivantes : Est-ce que les notions normatives concernant le consommateur « moyen » et la définition du consommateur dans le droit de l’Union européenne et la législation nationale correspondent aux discours de la politique publique sur le rôle actif des consommateurs dans la régulation des marchés? Comment ces lois traitent la vulnérabilité des consommateurs? Comment les concepts utilisés dans le droit de l’Union européenne et le droit national sont liées ? Et surtout, comment les tribunaux et les autorités réglementaires interprètent ces notions? L’article constate que bien qu'il existe des concepts normatifs clairs du consommateur dans la législation de l’Union européenne et dans la jurisprudence de la Cour de justice de l’Union européenne concernant la libre circulation, leur application dans d’autres domaines du droit européen, notamment dans le droit du consommateur, ainsi que dans le droit national, démontrent une image plus nuancée du consommateur. L’article affirme que les règles juridiques et les concepts du consommateur doivent être enrichis par les expériences de l’application du droit. De plus, le droit et le système de son application doivent prendre en compte comment les marchés évoluent et comment le rôle des consommateurs change. De plus, le droit et le système de son application doivent être enrichi par l’expérience d'autres sciences sociales, notamment l'économie comportementale focalisé sur le comportement des consommateurs.

Keywords

EN

consumer protection; consumer image; EU; Central and Eastern Europe; law enforcement

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Warszawski. Wydział Nauk Ekonomicznych
• Journal: Yearbook of Antitrust and Regulatory Studies
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 9(13)
• Pages: 9-42

Dates

published

2016-06-30

printed

2016-06-30

Contributors

author

Cseres Katalin

• * Associate Professor of Law, Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance, Amsterdam Center or Law & Economics, University of Amsterdam

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Identifiers

ISSN

1689-9024

DOI

10.7172/1689-9024.YARS.2016.9.13.1