E-Consumer Protection in the U.S. – The Same Jungle as in Europe

Abstract

With the use of the Internet, a new form of contract has appeared: the electronic contract, which is concluded online. In most cases, two parties are present: a consumer, who is in a relatively exposed position and a business entity. This article focuses on the protections given to consumers in the U.S. in these cases – i.e. electronic consumer law in the U.S. – at both federal and state level (with special regard to New York State). Principal questions are the following: do consumers in the U.S. receive the same protections as consumers in Europe when purchasing goods online? When we buy goods from the U.S. here in Europe through the Internet and have them shipped over, do we receive the same protections as in Europe? And what options exist for protecting ourselves? What are the rules and remedies that help us? Last, but not least: what can we learn from the U.S. system, if anything? Summarising substantive U.S. provisions that may be relevant for Europe is also beneficial with an eye to putting continuously evolving European directive law into a broader perspective.

Keywords: e-commerce, contract law, U.S. consumer law, comparative law

JEL Classification: K33, K4