LSN: Miscellaneous Consumer Matters (Topic)最新文献

{"title":"What Is a Digital Gatekeeper? Which Platforms Should Be Captured by the EC Proposal for a Digital Market Act?","authors":"D. Geradin","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3788152","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3788152","url":null,"abstract":"In the past couple of years, several reports have concluded that a small number of large digital platforms act as gatekeepers in that they are necessary gateways between business users and their prospective customers. This allows these platforms to take advantage of the dependency of these business users on their services by imposing unfair trading terms. Since this issue may not be adequately addressed to competition law, this has led the European Commission to propose a Digital Market Act (DMA). <br><br>This paper focuses on the question of which digital platforms should be subject to ex ante regulation and, thus, to the obligations contained in DMA proposal. The methodology used to designate gatekeepers cannot be divorced from the issue(s) that ex ante regulation seeks to address as otherwise the DMA might end up regulating the wrong set of companies. The DMA Proposal designates as “gatekeepers” providers of core platforms services (CPS) that satisfy three cumulative qualitative criteria. These criteria are presumed to be satisfied when the CPS provider in question meets size-related quantitative thresholds. The DMA includes a mechanism allowing CPS providers that satisfy these quantitative thresholds to escape designation. Nevertheless, the paper shows that there is a risk that this process may capture platforms that, while they satisfy the quantitative thresholds due to their size, do not act as gatekeepers. <br><br>In this context, the paper makes some suggestions as to how the designation process could be improved to ensure that it exclusively targets platforms that are necessary gateways between business users and their prospective customers, hence creating dependency. The paper recommends a greater reliance on the concept of multi-homing, which has been extensively explored in the economic literature. In particular, multi-homing on both sides of a platform could be used as a safe harbour.","PeriodicalId":269248,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Miscellaneous Consumer Matters (Topic)","volume":"81 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129865574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pandora's Loot Box","authors":"Sheldon A. Evans","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3733910","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3733910","url":null,"abstract":"Virtual worlds are a frontier unlike any other. But as virtual worlds grow exponentially in the internet age, they find more overlap with the real world and the laws that govern it. One such emerging intersection is the advent of “loot boxes.” Borrowing their design from the gambling industry, loot boxes operate as a hybrid between slot machines and packs of trading cards. A consumer pays real-world money to buy a virtual box without knowing its contents. Upon opening the box, the consumer receives a virtual good that may be of great value, but may also be a common or duplicate virtual good of little to no value. Such is the gamble that fuels this troubling and addictive virtual gaming mechanism. \u0000 \u0000While scholars and government agencies have considered differing views regarding the ownership, property, and sale of virtual goods, few have considered the gambling perspective brought on by loot boxes. This Article offers a unique legal exploration of the overlaps between loot boxes and gambling by proposing that state gambling laws be updated to include the social science concept of perceived value that explains consumer behavior. By examining the perceived value of loot box rewards, it becomes clear that consumers are driven to gamble for virtual goods based on the value they bestow in the virtual world—irrespective of any real-world value. This framework of virtual valuation is key in properly regulating loot boxes as a form of gambling, which plays on the same psychological triggers as do slot machines. This new framework carries important implications outside of gambling regulation in virtual worlds, while also contributing to the developing literature exploring the ethical and economic dilemmas when software is designed to increase user engagement by exploiting psychological weaknesses.","PeriodicalId":269248,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Miscellaneous Consumer Matters (Topic)","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127912725","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Making Outcomes Matter: An Immodest Proposal for a New Consumer Financial Regulatory Paradigm","authors":"Todd H. Baker, C. Stone","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3607308","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3607308","url":null,"abstract":"American consumers today access financial services in fragmented, product-specific marketplaces in which each provider optimizes its consumer relationships based on profitability. Providers regularly exploit information advantages, geographical proximity, behavioral biases, high “shopping costs” and other asymmetries. Consumers, under pressure to make quick personal decisions, frequently make suboptimal or affirmatively damaging choices that benefit the provider and constrain the consumers’ options in follow-on decisions. The responsibility for managing outcomes in consumer financial services is — absent the most egregious abuse — left in the hands of the individual consumer. These practices arguably have led to suboptimal outcomes for all consumers and high levels of financial insecurity among the most vulnerable populations. \u0000 \u0000In the face of these problems, state and federal governments have, over time, adopted a variety of statutory and regulatory regimes intended to protect consumers. The resulting system of consumer financial regulation has had an inconsistent record in advancing the interests of consumers, particularly more vulnerable lower-income consumers, despite the existence of large bodies of law and regulation, extensive consumer disclosure, the enforcement efforts of dozens of state and federal regulatory agencies and an enormous investment in regulatory compliance by financial services providers. The system has historically operated in a data vacuum where regulators had little insight into the results of product usage, relying instead on disclosure-based regimes intended to inform consumer choice regarding product pricing and terms, narrow proscriptions regarding provider practices that impede informed decision-making and limited interventions regarding pricing or fees. \u0000 \u0000This situation has begun to change. Digitization and the ongoing “big data” revolution, coupled with the emergence of new measures of “financial health” outcomes, now make it possible to analyze the impact on individuals of the use of financial services. This, in turn, may allow historic regulatory regimes to be reimagined using these new data capabilities. Over time, a regulatory framework based upon outcomes measurement has the potential to supplement and ultimately replace the current system. \u0000 \u0000Something similar has begun to occur in the health care field, where insurers (and the state and federal governments that administer Medicare and Medicaid) represent powerful payor interests that are largely aligned with patient wellbeing. These health care market participants now use outcomes-based data to guide a wide range of medical practices and clinical decisions on the part of hospitals, physicians and medical service providers. Increasingly, a variety of standardized and publicly disclosed metrics enable payors to reward providers for lowering costs and improving patient outcomes. \u0000 \u0000Drawing from the health care example, we advance a three-stage proposal to be","PeriodicalId":269248,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Miscellaneous Consumer Matters (Topic)","volume":"136 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132606416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Case for a Legislated Market in Minimum Recycled Content for Plastics","authors":"Chantal Carriere, Rachael Beavers Horne","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3533450","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3533450","url":null,"abstract":"The plastic packaging industry faces mounting shareholder and public pressure to reduce the environmental impact of post-consumer plastic packaging. The recycled plastics market in the United States is positioned for growth; however, developing a reliable supply of post-consumer plastics will be expensive because of problems in the recycling market. Reliance on export markets has limited investment in domestic recycling capacity, local collection programs vary considerably, and many consumers are ignorant about what can be recycled. These challenges are compounded by the current low-cost environment for manufacturing virgin plastics. This Article evaluates the opportunities and challenges of legislating a minimum recycled content requirement for the packaging industry. First, it provides an overview of the current supply chain, analyzes the factors that are driving change in these processes, and describes the current challenges with the recycling market and solutions that have been previously utilized. Next, it proposes a model law solution, and analyzes the benefits and challenges of creating a statutory requirement for a minimum quantity of recycled plastics. Finally, it assesses the possibilities of passing federal and state legislation.","PeriodicalId":269248,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Miscellaneous Consumer Matters (Topic)","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115989040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Issues of Halal Supply Chain Management: Suggestion for Korean Traders","authors":"H. Lee, H. Hwang, Dong-hwan Kim","doi":"10.35611/jkt.2019.23.8.132","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.35611/jkt.2019.23.8.132","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest countermeasures to reduce the damage of manufacturers in halal industries and to increase the transparency of the halal market along with raising some problems of halal supply chain management (HSCM). \u0000 \u0000Design/methodology/approach – To achieve to the aim of this research, halal supply chain is categorized as a green zone or a red zone according to the possibility of cross-contamination, and the study introduces 2 examples in Malaysia and Indonesia regarding cross-contamination. \u0000 \u0000Findings – More than 70% of the companies producing halal-certified products are, ironically, non Muslim suppliers under the halal certificate system and by using halal supply chain. Most Muslim countries do not exercise control over the completed halal supply chain. In most Muslim countries which do not exercise control over halal supply chain properly, there is always a possibility of cross contamination of products during the processes of distribution. \u0000 \u0000Research limitations/implications - This research has been conducted by accessing cases in halal supply chain. These cases are found in some Muslim countries, not all Muslim countries. Nevertheless, the authors found the possibility of these cross-contaminations in all Muslim countries, and it will damage the halal market. \u0000 \u0000Originality/value – While existing studies have focused on protecting Muslim consumers by ensuring the integrity of halal products in halal supply chain, there is no research on how to protect halal product manufacturers as another important axis of halal SCM.","PeriodicalId":269248,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Miscellaneous Consumer Matters (Topic)","volume":"2009 3","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114087178","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Consumer Contracts and the Restatement Project","authors":"D. McGowan","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3446802","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3446802","url":null,"abstract":"A recent controversy over the American Law Institute’s draft Restatement of the Law of Consumer Contracts (the “Draft”) raises four questions: (i) What is the state of basic contract principles such as formation or unconscionability with respect to consumer contracts; (ii) does the Draft get the existing law right; (iii) how much can contract law do to give consumers a leg up in the modern economy; and (iv) should the Draft do more? \u0000 \u0000The positive critiques of the Draft are weak. Cases that do not contradict the Draft are cited as showing that it is wrong, district court opinions that have not even been adopted in their home circuit are praised as “leading cases,” and the rules of formation are decried as unsettled and messy, when the standard is clear. The answers to questions (i) and (ii) are that the cases are reasonably settled on principles that are accurately reflected in the Draft. \u0000 \u0000Normative questions (iii) and (iv) are interesting and hard. Critiques of the Draft presume that contract law could do a lot to help consumers but that the Draft would thwart such efforts. There are limits to what contract law can do to give consumers a leg up, however, and the Draft does not narrow those limits. Sweeping statements, such as that the Draft “if adopted, would drive a dagger through consumers’ rights,” are excessive, even if limited only to doctrines such as unconscionability. Critics are notably short on cases that go their way under current law but which would come out differently under the Draft. \u0000 \u0000The Restatement project presumes the exercise of nonpartisan judgment. Some criticisms of the draft, notably those contained in a letter signed by numerous state attorneys general, are more political tracts than analytic critiques. Because the Draft does a good job analyzing and distilling the law, the real question in this debate is whether the ALI and the Restatement project as a whole can withstand efforts, such as the AGs’ Letter, to use the tools and standards of retail politics to defeat the analytic approach of the Draft. To the extent such efforts succeed, the Restatement concept as a whole will fail.","PeriodicalId":269248,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Miscellaneous Consumer Matters (Topic)","volume":"214 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114591028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"In Search of the Theory of Harm in EU Consumer Law: Lessons from the Consumer Fitness Check","authors":"F. Esposito, Anne-Lise Sibony","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3410990","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3410990","url":null,"abstract":"Recently, EU Consumer law has undergone a ‘Fitness Check’ (or REFIT). We thought that checking the fitness for purpose of a body of law would involve revisiting its purpose. This is why we expected to find in the rich REFIT documentation (over 4000 pages of studies and Commission documents) an explicit discourse on the goals of consumer law. Our aim was to connect this discourse to two lines of scholarship: a doctrinal line pointing out that EU consumer law lacks a clear direction and that, to the extent it does have one, it is too strongly geared towards market integration to the detriment of protection of the weakest, and an economically informed approach seeking to formulate a theory of harm that could underpin the enforcement of consumer law, by analogy with the practice in competition law. We agree that a clearer direction and a stronger conceptualisation of what harms the law seeks to protect consumers against would improve EU consumer law. This paper defines a ‘theory of harm’, illustrates what a theory of harm for consumer law could look like and analyses the REFIT documentation in search for elements of such a theory. Our findings are largely disappointing. We looked for something that is not there. The REFIT’s tour de force is to check fitness for purpose without discussing purpose. It does so by adopting a circular approach and defining consumer harm as instances of under-enforcement of the law. This presupposes that all possible harms are already accounted for in the law and only occur when the law is not properly enforced. We uncover an irony instead of a theory of harm. What the REFIT does delineate is a normative space in which to develop a theory of harm for the future. It consists of a virtuous triangle of empowerment, trust and a well-functioning internal market. The REFIT also suggests that an economic-based theory of harm would need to interact with several legal elements. Consumer weakness, empowerment and legitimate expectations constitute ingredients for an economically grounded, behaviourally sensible and legally workable theory of harm.","PeriodicalId":269248,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Miscellaneous Consumer Matters (Topic)","volume":"100 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116093233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Consumer Protection on Social Media Platforms: Tackling the Challenges of Social Commerce","authors":"C. Riefa","doi":"10.1007/978-3-030-25579-4_15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25579-4_15","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":269248,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Miscellaneous Consumer Matters (Topic)","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117174324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comment on the Request for Information on Rulemaking Processes by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, CFPB Docket No. CFPB-2018-0009","authors":"P. McCoy","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3251427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3251427","url":null,"abstract":"On March 7, 2018, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, under Acting Director Mick Mulvaney, issued a Request for Information eliciting public comment on its rulemaking processes. This response expresses concern that under its new leadership, the Bureau is retreating from its commitment to fair, open, and data-driven rulemakings in response to industry pressure. The response argues that the Bureau must refrain from any actions that would undermine that commitment, including: (1) creating artificial obstacles to on-boarding quantitative data; (2) prohibiting the use of qualitative data and consumer anecdotes; (3) compromising the independence of its cost-benefit analyses; and (4) relying on new data, studies or reports after a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking appears without disclosing that reliance. The response further calls on the Bureau to strengthen its ex parte policy to ensure timely public posting of all ex parte communications involving rulemakings.","PeriodicalId":269248,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Miscellaneous Consumer Matters (Topic)","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123387084","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Hague Choice of Law Principles, CISG and PICC: A Hard Look at a Choice of Soft Law","authors":"Brooke Marshall","doi":"10.1093/AJCL/AVY007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/AJCL/AVY007","url":null,"abstract":"The Hague Principles on Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts are “soft” private international law rules. They empower parties to choose either State law or soft “rules of law” to govern their contract, regardless of whether they litigate or arbitrate. This article investigates the relationship between the Hague Principles and two sets of rules of law which parties may choose: the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) or the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). It makes three principal claims. First, the nature of the Hague Principles and their relationship with the PICC or the CISG gives rise to several normative ambiguities which need clarification. Second, the Hague Principles do not limit the parties' ability to divide their contract at a choice of law level (horizontal depecage): parties can influence not only which rules of law govern the contract but also their content. This is undesirable as a matter of principle. It may also facilitate results which the PICC and the CISG do not intend. Third, the Hague Principles provide that the law which the parties purportedly chose determines whether the parties agreed on a choice of law. They also provide a mechanism which designates the law which the parties purportedly chose in standard contract terms. Applied to rules of law, the suitability of these provisions is questionable: alternatives should be explored.","PeriodicalId":269248,"journal":{"name":"LSN: Miscellaneous Consumer Matters (Topic)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128403480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}