The Protection of Vulnerable Groups from a Behavioural Perspective

Abstract

The target group and vulnerable group benchmarks were meant to provide additional protection to consumers, addressing the concern that vulnerable consumers were not sufficiently protected by the average consumer benchmark. Yet, to what extent do these benchmarks really address consumer vulnerability? It is important in this context to note that the Directive views vulnerability in terms of groups. From a behavioural perspective, this view of consumer vulnerability is problematic. Studies on consumer vulnerability emphasise that vulnerability is highly context-specific and that this phenomenon is difficult to capture in terms of well-delineated groups. These studies show that some groups (such as younger children) may indeed be generally more vulnerable than other groups, but for most groups this is highly dependent on the type of situation. Since vulnerability is highly context specific and difficult to capture in terms of groups, both the target group and vulnerable group benchmark are applicable only in a limited number of cases, which makes it questionable whether these benchmarks can really address vulnerability.