Personal-Data and Consumer Protection: What Do They Have in Common?

Abstract

The European legislature deals with personal-data and consumer protection with two approaches which have a lot in common. Both the European law on the processing of personal data and that on B2C contracts focus on the protection of a weaker subject and they seem to be based on similar legal instruments: the information requirements, the recognition of specific rights to consumers and data subjects (in particular, the right to withdraw) and the provision of favourable litigation rules for the weaker party. This paper analyses the similarities existing between regulatory techniques adopted by the present legislation in order to determine the level of protection granted and whether a holistic approach to the subject is possible or desirable.