Internet court on solving online consumer contract disputes: Case of China

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply influenced people’s way of life. The need to comply with various social restrictions has posed new and previously unknown challenges to humanity. Internet here plays a significant role in helping to maintain people’s life as usual. As online behavior increases, many disputes arise therefrom grow simultaneously. It is proposed that international online disputes would be solved effectively if Internet technologies were referred to and adopted. Therefore, online litigation, a judicial method specially established to solve online disputes, provides an ideal alternative to the traditional litigation process in this regard. Such litigation can be operated through Internet courts (or cyber courts). Today the palm in their establishment belongs to China that has successfully introduce the world’s first three, and only, Internet courts. Thus, the Chinese experience has been chosen as the primary empirical support of the study on Internet courts. In this essay, a detailed review of the online litigation process will be analyzed using the example of the adopted rules and regulations for resolving disputes, as well as the judgements handed down by the Hangzhou Internet Court, the world’s first cyber court successfully resolving multiple online disputes over four years. The essay firstly reviews the current rules and procedures of Hangzhou Internet court; this would serve for a better understanding of how the world’s first Internet court is operated. After that, the essay discusses in what circumstances foreign courts can recognize and enforce Internet courts’ judgments. The essay ends up with giving personal recommendations on the future development of Internet courts to solve online consumer contract disputes.

Digital Consumer Contract Law without Prejudice to Copyright: EU Digital Content Directive, Reasonable Consumer Expectations and Competition

The EU Digital Content Directive sets out to facilitate the cross-border distribution of digital content and ensure a high level of consumer protection by harmonising certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content. The Directive acknowledges the variety of licensing agreements involved in the distribution of digital content, such as between the holders of intellectual property rights, intermediaries and end-users. It is recognised that the consumer’s use of digital content could be restricted under end-user licensing agreements pursuant to intellectual property rights; at the same time, the Directive is without prejudice to other EU law, including copyright. Rather, under Art. 10, the consumer is entitled to remedies from the trader of digital content for lack of conformity where restrictions resulting from a violation of intellectual property rights prevent or limit the use of the content. As the traders of digital content frequently are not the owners of intellectual property rights but rely themselves on a licence, the question arises as to the potential implications of Art. 10 for digital content markets. This paper discusses two such potential implications. The first is whether the efforts to safeguard reasonable consumer expectations could be undermined by the Directive leaving the arrangements between traders and intellectual property right holders out of scope. The second is whether Art. 10 could reinforce the network effects and dominant position of the established players on the market.

What's law got to do with it? Is consumer law the solution to problems faced by student tenants?

This paper examines the extent to which law and regulation protects students renting from private individuals or private companies, as opposed to universities, in both of the main types of student accommodation, the private rented sector (PRS) and purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA). It first examines the different problems faced by students in both tenure types, notably issues of repair and the failure of PBSA providers to complete accommodation in time for the beginning of term. Secondly, it considers consumerisation of private renting and the extent to which a consumer protection law approach can assist tenants generally, and students specifically. Thirdly, the paper explains how power relationships between students and landlords and issues with access to legal advice restrict access to justice for student as tenants. It is argued that whilst consumer contract law and consumer protection law have something to offer student tenants (particularly in PBSA) a generic consumer approach to the rights of tenants is insufficient because the nature of the landlord and tenant relationship inhibits access to legal redress. It is concluded that in addition to improved consumer protections, a proactive approach by both local authorities and universities could significantly improve the experiences of students.

They Live and They Make Consumer Law a Poor Instrument of Distributive Justice

Even though consumer contract law concerns voluntary agreements between private parties, it is often considered to be an instrument of the principle of distributive justice, according to which the design of social institutions should benefit the worse-off members of society. The article claims that such a view is mistaken. It appeals to the so-called status quo argument, according to which interpreting consumer law as an instrument of distributive justice may entrench the current, unjust state of affairs, and therefore compound, rather than eradicate, distributive injustice. Within that framework, consumer law is treated as the legal instantiation of consumer culture, which, even if not inherently unjust, poses several risks for individuals and their overall wellbeing. Apart from presenting the abstract argument, the article illustrates it with a vivid example from popular culture – John Carpenter’s iconic film They Live.

THE LEGAL NATURE OF ”PRE-CONTRACTUL OBLIGATIONS”:CONDITIONS OF VALIDITY IN THE CONSUMER CONTRACT

This paper aims to briefly analyze the legal nature of “the pre-contractual obligations” regarding the information, counselling and safety elements that are specific to the consumer legislation. From the perspective of consumerist regulations, “the pre-contractual obligations” occur during the formation of the contract stage although in the civil contract the obligations of the parties designate the effects of the contract. In these circumstances, the following question arises: are “the pre-contractual obligations” laid down in the Consumer Code conditions of validity or effects (obligations) of the contract? This dispute is a part of the harmonization process of the institutions that are specific to the legislation of consumption with those of the contract as laid down in the Civil Code (the ordinary law in the matter). The paper is structured in four parts: “Introduction”, “The Stages of the Civil Contract: the Conditions of Validity, Conclusion, Effects and Termination”, “The Pre-Contractual Obligations as Laid Down in the Consumer Code” and “The Legal Character of the Pre-Contractual Obligations.” This legal undertaking ends with conclusions.

Consumer contracts in the European Court of Justice case law. Latest trends = Los contratos de consumo en la jurisprudencia del TJUE. Últimas tendencias

The concept of “consumer” is, in theory, a restrictive concept. However, the ECJ has now extended it to cases in which a private individual has gone on to practice as a professional in an manifest, public and conspicuous manner. Judgment ECJ 25 January 2018, C-498/16, Facebook proves it. In relation to consumers of financial products, the ECJ skillfully pulls strings in the context of art. 7.2 BR I-bis; however, that norm is totally insensitive with regards to the consumer. The future is stepping forward towards online mass consumption, and in the present virtual social landscape it is necessary for the ECJ to open up new ways of protecting the consumer that keep up with times. In this context, it is necessary that future amendments to the Brussels I-bis Regulation incorporate the concepts that the ECJ has created in relation to jurisdiction in the cross-border consumer sector: the concepts of “act of consumption”, “consumer”, “professional”, and “directed activity”, for example, should stop being jurisprudential concepts to become legal concepts.Keywords: act of consumption, consumer, consumer contract, cross-border consumer sector, directed activity, dual contracts with both private and professional purpose, (international) jurisdiction, Private International Law, professional.Resumen: El concepto de “consumidor” es, en teoría, un concepto restrictivo. Sin embargo, el TJUE lo ha extendido a casos en los que un particular, en el momento presente, ha pasado a ejercer como profesional de manera evidente, pública y notoria. La STJUE 25 enero 2018, C-498/16, Facebook, es la prueba. En relación con los consumidores de productos financieros, el TJUE mueve sus hilos con destreza en el contexto del art. 7.2 RB I-bis, pero este precepto es totalmente insensible al consumidor. El futuro camina digitalmente hacia un consumo masivo online y en dicho paisaje social virtual es necesario que el TJUE abra vías de protección al consumidor de un modo evolutivo. En dicho contexto, es preciso que futuras reformas del Reglamento Bruselas I-bis incorporen los conceptos que el TJUE ha creado en relación con la competencia judicial en el sector del consumo transfronterizo: los conceptos de “acto de consumo”, “consumidor”, “profesional”, y “actividad dirigida”, por ejemplo, deberían dejar de ser conceptos jurisprudenciales para pasar a ser conceptos legales.Palabras clave: acto de consumo, competencia judicial internacional, consumidor, consumo transfronterizo, contrato de consumidores, contratos con doble finalidad profesional y privada, Derecho internacional privado, profesional, actividad dirigida.

Contratos de compraventa de bienes (Directiva 2019/771) y suministro de contenidos o servicios digitales (Directiva 2019/770) – ámbito de aplicación y grado de armonización = Sale of goods (Directive 2019/771) and supply of digital content and digital services (Directive 2019/770) – scope and degree of harmonisation

Resumen: La Directiva 2019/770, relativa a determinados aspectos de los contratos de suministro de contenidos y servicios digitales, y la Directiva 2019/771, relativa a determinados aspectos de los contratos de compraventa de bienes, publicadas en el Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea en mayo de 2019, representan un hito muy importante en el Derecho contractual europeo en materia de consumo. En el presente texto se analiza el ámbito de aplicación de estos dos instrumentos jurídicos y se destaca el margen de arbitrio que tienen los Estados miembros, señalando los aspectos en los que habrá que modificar el Derecho nacional, en algunos casos reduciendo el nivel de protección de los consumidores.Palabras clave: consumidor, compraventa de bienes, contenido digital, servicio digital, Direc­tiva 2019/770, Directiva 2019/771.Abstract: Directive 2019/770 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services and Directive 2019/771 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the sale of goods, published in the Official Journal of the European Union in May 2019, represent a very impor­tant milestone in European consumer contract law. Throughout this text, an analysis is carried out of the scope of application of these two legal instruments, highlighting the margin of discretion that Member States have and pointing out aspects where national law will have to be modified, in some cases by re­ducing the level of consumer protection.Keywords: consumer, sales contract, digital content, digital services, Directive 2019/770, Di­rective 2019/771.