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Consumer defense and protection has gone beyond schemas, how can a legislation of this nature deal with consumer contracts or abusive clauses? How many questions have been raised by a consumer legislation that "dared," for example, to regulate issues related to banking and financial services? Moreover, at the beginning, it was unusual for a discriminating supplier to be sanctioned by an administrative authority for having discriminated citizens and consumers.

Being an emerging alternative financing model which relies upon raising money from a large number of sources, crowdfunding may take many forms. They range from crowd sponsoring, based on collecting funds from donators in return for either gratification of a project owner, or a symbolic reward such as the possibility of appearing in a crowdfunded movie, to crowd investing and crowd lending which enable investors and lenders to gain financial profit. An important role in crowdfunding is played by various internet platforms which enable the project owners to advertise their project and allow potential contributors to inform themselves on the project and contribute money. While the advantage of this financing model is unquestionable due to the fact that a number of projects in Europe would not have a necessary source of financing without it, there are a number of issues connected to it. As a consequence of the various existing financing models which are further evolving and different parties who take part in crowdfunding, the legal framework for crowdfunding in the European Union and its Member States is not clear at this stage. One of the distinct concerns is the applicability of the EU consumer protection acquis, particularly to contracts concluded at a distance, unfair contract terms, unfair commercial practices and consumer credit. The aim of this paper is to identify the crowdfunding models which may be subject to mentioned consumer protection legislation. While assumption that some contributors could be characterised as consumers appears to be rather straightforward, such characterisation in regard to project owners is unexpected. Additional controversy is related to whether in crowd investing model, investors may enjoy protection as consumers. The analysis of legal sources will include relevant EU directives and where necessary comparative outline of Member States laws through which the directives were implemented into national legislation.

The term protection of consumers' interests falls into descriptive catego-ries and is used to characterize a set of actions aimed at consumer protec-tion facing threats against his/her rights and interests. However, the de-scription of this concept has significant effects. Depending on the sphere of interests and the adopted perspective of observing phenomena and the cur-rent socio-economic situation, the point of view is changing into a set of ac-tions which are important for the consumers' interests. The idea of protecting consumers' interests appeared already in the nine-teenth century under the conditions of the emerging market economy. The first steps to protect buyers against dishonest trader practices were under-taken by the developing cooperative movement. Consumer movement, like many social movements, was born in the period of rapid growth of industrial-ization in the second half of the nineteenth century. At first, the strongest development was in the USA. Then, the protection of consumer's interests was developed at the level of the United Nations and became one of the European Union's priorities. It is worth mentioning that European integration has set the problem of protecting consumers' interests in a new light. We should also emphasize that due to the fact that the consumer is a weaker party in the market game, his/her interests are not threatened along with the tightening of relations within the European Union. The development of the European market, but also of the global one, changes only the goal and the direction of the threats against consumer's interests. Among the prerequisites of protection of consumers' interests, there are usually three groups: economic, legal and social. Economic reasons relate to the massiveness of trade in goods and the monopolization of the market and the so-called consumer atomization and abuse of marketing instru-ments, as well as globalization of the economy, which is associated with decreasing and limiting the role of the state on market. The social founda-tions of protection arise from the need to protect life and achieve human rights. Here, in particular, care for health and standard of living, consumer safety, care for the natural and social environment and the level of consum-er awareness are considered important. The premises for the legal protec-tion of consumers' interests arise, inter alia, from the compulsory situation in which consumers find themselves, the lack of proper preparation for estab-lishing a contractual relationship, representing the smaller property potential, as well as limited possibilities in terms of time and resources that can serve to satisfy their needs. One should also add limited communication of legal regulations and poor knowledge of the principles of shaping the content of the legal relationship established by the consumer. Therefore, the legal pre-requisites for protection concern areas of activity in which the law is not ad-justed according to the conditions of a market game. The source of unfavorable phenomena for the consumer − degrading it in the legal, economic and sociological sphere − is the mass character of trade. This fact results in the loss of important sovereignty for the consum-er. The market economy creates many economic and social problems. Technical progress, mass production, degradation of the natural environ-ment, huge wealth of market offer of goods and services, flood of infor-mation, intense promotional activities of companies are a threat against con-sumer sovereignty and his/her interests. It is also worth pointing out the reasons for the weakness of the consum-er as a market participant. The consumer is urged to meet his/her needs, which often means that he/she is ready to accept the conditions proposed to him/her. He/She also has a weaker position with respect to the group of producers and sellers in terms of economy, time and mental resi- lience. Moreover, the consumer does not have such knowledge of commod-ity, technical, economic and legal matters as producers or traders. He/ She has a threefold role as: recipient of promotional activities of enter- prises, buyer of goods and services, and user of purchased products. Appreciating the importance of the issues of consumer's interests protec-tion under the current socio-economic circumstances, taking into account the ongoing globalization processes and ever closer European integration, attempts have been made to characterize and assess consumer protection standards in Europe. This book will provide the reader with the necessary information on the topic of the European Union, as well as for the latest consumer empower-ment on contemporary integrated European market. The book is written by European researchers, for whom the problem of consumer rights protection plays a particularly important role and who want to improve the awareness of threats that consumers face on the modern market. The primary target audience of this book will be students who study busi-ness and management and who will be responsible in future for the devel-opment of durable and long-term relationship with consumers. The book will be also useful for consumers on the European market. Academic research-ers as well as practitioners from the business field should be interested in this book. This book should help them to rethink what they do, how they are doing, to encourage them to create effective relationships with consumers and protect their rights. The entire work is divided into three parts. The first part provides an in-troduction to the topic and focuses on the understanding of consumers, their market behaviours as well as the consumption on the European market. This part includes chapters describing different roles played by the con-sumers, their market behaviours, consumer decision making process as well determinants of consumer behaviours. This part also includes descrip-tion of the concept of consumption and of the consumers' values. Finally, the reader can find an analysis of the importance of consumer awareness phenomenon. Part two presents selected aspects of contemporary compa-nies' behaviour and issues related to threats against the consumer created by companies on contemporary European market. Furthermore, the authors tackle the problem of competition as well the companies' ethical and non-ethical beahviors.This part also includes several chapters dedicated to companies' practices requiring consumers' protection and consumer awareness and their impact on businesses. And finaly, part three is dedicat-ed to consumers and their protection standards in Europe. One can read about the problems regarding consumer policy on European market, includ-ing models and organizational structure. In addition to it, there are chapters describing consumers' rights, institutions of consumer rights protection, dif-ferent law and regulations related to classical and digital market, tangible goods, and services sector. The last part ends with several issues related to building consumer awareness. The book itself has been the outcome of a project named Enhancing quality in innovative higher education about consumer awareness – Con-sume-aware, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Un-ion. This project was created by eight partner universities from the Dukenet International Network, including: University of Economics in Katowice – pro- ject leader, Howest University of Applied Sciencies, University of Bucharest, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Seinäjoki University of Applied Science, Bu-dapest Business School, University of Trento, and University of ISIK. For the publication of this book the proofreading and the terminology glossary were provided by Diana Ionita and Daria Georgiana Protopopescu from the University of Bucharest. Special thanks for the reviewers' valuable support – Kim Fam from University of Wellington in New Zealand and Antonino Galati from University of Palermo in Italy – whose professional contribution gave this book its finished form. ; European Union, Erasmus+ programme

The aim of the research is to analyze the role of the consumer in a detailed way. Firstly I defined the concepts of "consumption" and "consumer", giving relief to the socio-economic theories that have characterized the subject during recent years,and taking in consideration the process of consumption and the behavioral and decisional theories proper of the consumer. Moreover, I have deeply analyzed the consumer under the juridical aspect, from the mere legal recognition to the trial and the efforts sustained by the European Legislator during the last years with the purpose of creating a system of common rules with the final goal of guaranteeing a high-level of protection to the consumer in international contracts and assuring the correct operation of the Single Internal Market founding the discipline on a competitive model. Great relief is given to the "Rome I Regulation" on the choice of the law aplicable to contracts and to the "Bruxelles Convention" on the competent court.

Consumer protection is one of the conditions of well – going economy. On the one hand it is covered by the state, on the other, it depends at full rate on the actions of enterpriser. Promoting consumers' rights, prosperity and well being are core values of the European Union (EU), and this is reflected in its laws. Membership of the European Union ensures additional protection for consumers, what is described in 10 basic principles of how EU law protects you, as a consumer, no matter where you are in the EU. The protection of Slovak consumers extended to the protection of all European consumers.

Consumer protection is one of the conditions of well – going economy. On the one hand it is covered by the state, on the other, it depends at full rate on the actions of enterpriser. Promoting consumers' rights, prosperity and well being are core values of the European Union (EU), and this is reflected in its laws. Membership of the European Union ensures additional protection for consumers, what is described in 10 basic principles of how EU law protects you, as a consumer, no matter where you are in the EU. The protection of Slovak consumers extended to the protection of all European consumers. Article in German. Verbraucherschutz in der Slowakei Abstrakt.Verbraucherschutz ist eine aus den Anforderungen an die "gute" Wirtschaft. Einerseits hängt von den Staat ab und anderseits erfordert er Engagement von Unternehmen. Die Förderung der Rechte und des Wohlergehens der Verbraucher gehört zu den Grundwerten der EU, was sich auch in ihrer Gesetzgebung widerspiegelt. Die Mitgliedschaft in der Europäischen Union bedeutet zusätzlichen Schutz für die Verbraucher, was 10 Grundsätze beschrieben werden, die Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher in allen EU-Ländern gleichermaßen schützen. Der Schutz des slowakischen Verbrauchers hat sich über den Schutz aller europäischen Verbraucher verbreitet. Schlüsselwörter: Verbraucherschutz, Recht, Verbraucher, Qualität, Maßnahmen. First published online: 27 Mar 2009

Consumer protection is one of the conditions of well – going economy. On the one hand it is covered by the state, on the other, it depends at full rate on the actions of enterpriser. Promoting consumers' rights, prosperity and well being are core values of the European Union (EU), and this is reflected in its laws. Membership of the European Union ensures additional protection for consumers, what is described in 10 basic principles of how EU law protects you, as a consumer, no matter where you are in the EU. The protection of Slovak consumers extended to the protection of all European consumers. Verbraucherschutz in der Slowakei Abstrakt Verbraucherschutz ist eine aus den Anforderungen an die "gute" Wirtschaft. Einerseits hängt von den Staat ab und anderseits erfordert er Engagement von Unternehmen. Die Förderung der Rechte und des Wohlergehens der Verbraucher gehört zu den Grundwerten der EU, was sich auch in ihrer Gesetzgebung widerspiegelt. Die Mitgliedschaft in der Europäischen Union bedeutet zusätzlichen Schutz für die Verbraucher, was 10 Grundsätze beschrieben werden, die Verbraucherinnen und Verbraucher in allen EU-Ländern gleichermaßen schützen. Der Schutz des slowakischen Verbrauchers hat sich über den Schutz aller europäischen Verbraucher verbreitet. Schlüsselwörter: Verbraucherschutz, Recht, Verbraucher, Qualität, Maßnahmen.

This chapter gives a bird's eye overview of EU financial services regulation.The first part gives a brief map of the areas of law – public, private, self-regulation – in which EU financial services regulation is situated. Part two discusses one of the goals of EU financial services law, which is to create access to finance. The other goal, substantive consumer protection, is dealt with in parts three and four with specific focus on consumer credit and investment. Part five considers the question to what extent EU legislation on consumer credit and investment, which is aimed at 'full harmonization', prevents further regulation through private law in the national laws of the Member States. The chapter closes with an outlook to future legislative initiatives and an assessment of the post-crisis attitude of the EU legislature to regulation in the consumer financial services market.

The actuality of the topic, its extent and importance, were strong arguments for writing this paper - Problems of consumer protection in tourism. To this, also the convergence of the fields that focus on the description of a image in deep of the topic is added, we are talking about economic, legal social features or features that belong to the specifics of tourism and of products and services consumed within it. The multiple dimensions of the approached topic transform it into an exciting topic which proves its usefulness when it is known since each individual can acquire the quality of a consumer, and his rights as a consumer are nothing else but the human rights of which every individual has to be aware. A process of education and information of the citizens regarding the rights they possess as consumers could reduce a part of the problems appearing in the process of consume of tourism products and services but it would contribute to the optimization of the protection of rights and interests of the consumers. In economic terms, democracy also implies ensuring the rights of the consumers and thus their protection, therefore the concept of protection of rights and interests of consumers exists.

This study aims to determine and understand the legal principles in protecting the rights of e-commerce consumers who transact on Tokopedia. This research is library research (library research) with a normative approach because it is a research that analyzes written regulations related to consumer protection in conducting electronic transactions on Tokopedia. The data source is secondary data in documents, reports, books, and other publications that support this research. The results show that e-commerce consumers transact on Tokopedia are in a weak position that can experience fraud from business actors who open stalls on the Tokopedia site. In protecting and safeguarding consumer rights, Tokopedia must establish strict rules and procedures for business actors conducting business activities on Tokopedia based on Law No. 8 of 1999 concerning consumer protection, Law No. 11 of 2008 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions Government Regulations Number 82 of 2012 concerning Implementation of Electronic Systems and Transactions.

Consumer protection within a broader area of social responsibility and ethics in banking has recently been attracting increased interest of researchers and professionals. The global financial crisis, which started in 2007, has put consumer protection under great scrutiny by initiating changes in behavioural patterns both of banks and consumers. Besides being an ethical question, consumer protection is also an important social and political question, usually appearing together with excessive problems, significant for financial stability as well. The aim of this paper is to investigate problems in bank consumer protection in Croatia both from regulatory and from practical aspect, and planned solutions for detected problems, as well as to analyse examples found in developed countries. Qualitative methodology is applied in the research, based on in-depth interviews with subject matter experts. By studying practical solutions for consumer protection on a global level, particularly focusing on the USA and Western European countries, the paper proposes the best practice of consumer protection applicable in Croatia.

This article is aimed at the information about food-stuffs safety and legislative adjustment of this area. It hints the responsibilities of food-stuffs suppliers and brings forward the necessity of particular members of distribution channel. This article also describes the results of concrete consumer protection research, which concerned consumer competence in the area of food-stuff products.

This technical note is based on a mission conducted from April 24 to May 9, 2014 to Kingston and other parts of Jamaica. The mission also conducted a short mystery shopping exercise with the assistance of a representative from the national consumer's league. Valuable comments on the draft note were provided by the Bank of Jamaica and the Financial Services Commission. The technical note consists of findings, issues and recommendations, and four annexes: annex one, existing structure for prudential and consumer protection supervision; annex two, current and revised legislation affecting financial consumer protection; annex three, comparison to world bank good practices on financial consumer protection; and annex four, national program of consumer protection and financial literacy, implementation plan components. The key recommendations present targeted measures that can be immediately implemented and will have a positive (and measurable) impact on public confidence in formal financial institutions. The focus of the technical note is on deposit-taking institutions although some aspects of others parts of the financial sector have been included.

Consumer protection has become a serious issue with the liberalization of Economic policies in India. The liberalization has opened the flood grades for the entry of big players from the world over into the country. The profit motive has surfaced as a major motive, leading to jettisoning the much avowed objective of giving prime importance to consumers interest. In the wake of such a situation, the issue would be who should take the responsibility of protecting the consumers. Should the protection of consumers be left to consumers only or to their organizations? In the realm of the consumer protection, what should be the role of the state? Should the protection of consumers be left to consumers only or to their organizations? In the realm of the consumer protection, what should be the role of the state? Should the state adopt a passive approach or reactive role or proactive role? The analysis of the data reveals that much more is required to be done by state governments.

The author analyses the impact of the Portability Regulation [Regulation (EU) 2017/1128 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on cross-border portability of online content services in the internal market] on the rights of consumers guaranteed by the currently negotiated proposal for a Directive on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content (Digital Content Directive). Both the Portability Regulation and the proposal for a Digital Content Directive address the issue of access to digital content from different perspectives and complement each other, although they use different legal terminology and in some respects have a different scope of application in the question of crossborder portability of the digital content provided for monetary counter performance to consumers. The author aims to answer whether a consumer who is not allowed to use the digital content in other EU Member States besides the Member State of his residence will be entitled to pursue claims arising from the non-conformity of the digital content with the contract. ; The author analyses the impact of the Portability Regulation [Regulation (EU) 2017/1128 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on cross-border portability of online content services in the internal market] on the rights of consumers guaranteed by the currently negotiated proposal for a Directive on certain aspects concerning contracts for the supply of digital content (Digital Content Directive). Both the Portability Regulation and the proposal for a Digital Content Directive address the issue of access to digital content from different perspectives and complement each other, although they use different legal terminology and in some respects have a different scope of application in the question of crossborder portability of the digital content provided for monetary counter performance to consumers. The author aims to answer whether a consumer who is not allowed to use the digital content in other EU Member States besides the Member State of his residence will be entitled to pursue claims arising from the non-conformity of the digital content with the contract.