The European Unfair Commercial Practices Directive: Impact, Enforcement Strategies and National Legal Systems (Markets and the Law) - Hardcover

As the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive has had a profound impact on consumer law across Europe, a stock-taking of its effects is urgently needed. Such an assessment is offered by this book. It contains a convincing analysis of key issues like vulnerability, the relationship to other regimes and enforcement.'Thomas Wilhelmsson, Chancellor of the University of Helsinki, Finland'This book does an excellent job in picking out the principal tensions, challenges and evolving practices associated with Directive 2005/29 on unfair commercial practices, an intriguing measure which seeks to establish a common European understanding of "unfairness" while also closing off the possibility of EU Member States choosing to apply stricter standards.'Stephen Weatherill, Oxford University, UK'The 2005 Unfair Commercial Practices Directive is a watershed in EU regulation of consumer markets. This book, written by experts in EU consumer law, provides insightful and incisive analyses of the emerging policy questions, issues of interpretation and debates on enforcement encountered in the implementation of the Directive throughout the EU.'Iain Ramsay, University of Kent, UK'This volume offers a timely analysis of the experience with the Unfair Commercial Practices and its full harmonisation character several years after it has come into force. It provides a welcome scholarly discussion of many of the post-implementation challenges which have been identified and provides interesting observations for the future development of this area of law.'Christian Twigg-Flesner, University of Hull, UK

One of the most important EU consumer protection directives of the past decade, the 2005 Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, or UCPD, is brought under examination in this stimulating volume. Bringing together leading experts in the comparative law and consumer law domain, the book discusses the impact of the Directive and whether the many possible issues identified at its inception have been borne out in practice. Divided into four parts of 'Implementation, Approximation and Harmonization', 'Vulnerability', 'The UCP Directive and Other Regimes', and finally 'Enforcement', the volume examines the various policy developments, the growing body of case law, the decisions of relevant national enforcement authorities, as well as the legislative debates which have surrounded the implementation of the UCPD in Member States. This book provides a valuable assessment of the impact of a major EU directive almost ten years after its adoption, and as such will be of interest to academics, legal practitioners and the judiciary working in the areas of European and Consumer law.