Zoekresultaten

Zoekopdracht: faculteit: "FdR" en publicatiejaar: "2011"

AuteurS. Lanting
TitelThe Optional Instrument; A Beneficial tool for consumers?
BegeleiderM.W. Hesselink
Jaar2011
Pagina's39
FaculteitFaculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid
OpleidingFdR MA Privaatrecht: Privaatrechtelijke rechtspraktijk
TrefwoordenPrivaatrecht; Consumer law; Consumers; Optional Instrument
SamenvattingThe European internal market is a hot topic. With currently 27 European countries, the internal market has a wider reach and more potential than ever before. Consumers play a large role in the internal market; with currently over 500 million citizens the consumer market is enormous. The internal market provides consumers with many advantages, it opened up markets that were previously not accessible and allows consumers to buy the product they want for the best price on the market. However, for whatever reason, not every consumer experiences all possible advantages of the internal market. According to the European Commission, consumers’ opportunities are restricted by businesses that refuse to sell to a particular country, which forces them to buy products from a seller against a higher price or are not able to purchase the product at all. Differences between national contract laws are said to be one of the main barriers to realising an effective functioning internal market. According to the European Commission, diverging national rules cause distortions in two respects. In the first place, sellers refuse to sell to consumers in other EU Member States because of, amongst others, additional transactions costs. Secondly, consumers are often unwilling to buy products online if they are not completely confident about their rights. It was for these distortions that the European Commission started already in 2001 with a project in order to find a solution to overcome these distortions arising from the above mentioned differences. This has resulted in the idea of creating an instrument that consists of a set of rules applying to the Member States’ national rules on contract law and that is known as The Optional Instrument (OI). The instrument will most likely be introduced as a regulation and will consist of an alternative set of rules covering contract law, which parties can choose to govern their contract. The initial set of rules has been drawn up by the Expert Group and has been published on the website of the Commission. Stakeholders can send in feedback until the 1st of July 2011. The aim of this thesis is to verify whether the Commission’s claim that the Optional Instrument will have beneficial implications for consumers (who engage in cross-border contracts) is correct. When determining whether the Optional Instrument is beneficial, the presence of two characteristics of the instrument is essential. In the first place, the instrument needs to provide consumers with added value, and in the second place, consumers need to enjoy a similar, or higher level of consumer protection as they currently enjoy under national legislation.
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