Intra-community cross-border e-commerce: a consumer confidence enhancing package

摘要

The aim of this thesis is to explore the barriers posed by the special characteristics\udof e-commerce that undermine consumer confidence in intra-Community crossborder\ude-commerce and to introduce possible substantive legal solutions to\udeliminate those barriers. This thesis is based upon the argument that the answer to\udincreasing consumer confidence vis-à-vis intra-Community cross-border ecommerce\udlies in empowering individual consumers with effective remedies for\udgoods with quality defects. Empirical evidence confirms that accessing rights and\udremedies is the principle disincentive to consumer confidence.\udThis thesis suggests that there are two possible ways to remedy the situation;\udreducing the disincentive and increasing the incentive. Pinpointing key areas with\udreference to empirical evidence, a ‘consumer confidence enhancing package’ is\udintroduced that contains substantive legal solutions that may have a comprehensive\udimpact. Implementing this package, ‘accessibility of the counterparty’ and\ud‘localisation of disputes’ are identified as critical for improvement. Focusing on\udthese formulas, ‘manufacturer liability’ and ‘credit card company liability’ are\udintroduced as legal mechanisms that have the potential to reduce the disincentive of\udthe consumers by means of facilitating accessibility of rights and remedies. The\udother part of the package involves the introduction of ‘punitive damages’ as a potent\udindividual private enforcement tool for increasing the ‘incentive’ for consumers to\udgo to courts for pursuing remedies, while fostering compliance by the businesses.\udIt is of particular significance for the EU, to create confident consumers who engage\udin Intra-Community cross-border e-commerce as cross-border e-commerce is a vital\udmotor of integration. Therefore this thesis is an attempt to develop legal mechanisms\udthat may address the existing problems of consumer confidence in the EU,\udparticularly in such a critical time that calls for stronger measures. The more\udconfident consumers are, the more Internal Market is likely to flourish.