The Yearbook of Consumer Law 2009

Deborah Parry is an independent consultant on consumer law matters, having previously been a Senior Lecturer at the University of Hull. Annette Nordhausen is Lecturer in Law at the University of Manchester, UK. She was previously a lawyer in commercial practice in northern Germany and a member of the law faculty of Universität Bremen. She has written mainly on contract related aspects of consumer law as well as e-commerce law (both in German and English). She advises government departments and has co-authored a number of studies for government departments in the UK as well as in Germany. She is the co-author of several standard works on consumer law and is consulted regularly by government departments, consumer law enforcement agencies and trade bodies. Geraint Howells is Professor of Law at Lancaster University, and barrister at Gough Square Chambers. He has written widely on Consumer Law including Consumer Protection Law and EC Consumer Law published by Ashgate and regularly advises NGOs and governmental bodies. Christian Twigg-Flesner is a Reader in Law at the University of Hull, UK. His publications include Consumer Product Guarantees (Ashgate, 2003), and he has co-authored a number of reports for the Department of Trade and Industry.

Contents: Preface; Part 1 Articles 2009: Crisis or future of European consumer law?, Norbert Reich; The status of consumers in EC liberalisation directives, Paul Nihoul; The impact of the European Union on consumer policy in Malta: a mixed blessing?, Paul Edgar Micallef; The limits of competition: reasserting a role for consumer protection and fair trading regulation in competitive markets, Nicola Howell and Therese Wilson; The consumer protection code: regulatory innovation from the Irish financial regulator, Mary Donnelly; Re-regulating unsecured consumer credit in Japan: over-indebted borrowers, the supreme court, and new legislation, Souichirou Kozuka and Luke Nottage; Consumer collective redress in the European Union: the 'Italian case', Cristina Poncibò; The future of consumer law in the United States - hello arbitration, bye-bye courts, so-long consumer protection, Richard M. Alderman. Part 2 Current Developments: Unfair Commercial Practices: The unfair commercial practices directive - alternatives in UK law, Alan Barron; Recent amendments to Maltese consumer law - transposition of the unfair commercial practices directive and changes to the regulatory regime, Paul Edgar Micallef. Credit: Secret commissions and overseas purchases: the good news for customers in 2007, James Ross. General: A critical (re)view of the Spanish Act on improvement of consumers protection concerning long term contracts (Act 44/2006, of 29 December), Susana Navas Navarro; France: a new law for 'the development of competition for the benefit of consumers', Alexandre Regniault; EC passenger law running on track - the regulation on rail passengers' rights and obligations, Jens Karsten; Future prospects for 'class actions' in Europe, Andrew Laidlaw.