Consumer Redress: Ideology and Empiricism

Abstract

This chapter examines the means by which redress can be delivered to consumers. Public and private enforcement has been a continuous interest for Hans Micklitz, and this chapter is offered to him with deep admiration and appreciation for his support and friendship. The analysis adopts a strictly empirical approach. It starts by asking what subject matter C2B claims comprise, and how much money they involve, before reviewing the evidence on the extent to which the main procedural options for processing them satisfy consumers’ and businesses’ needs. It notes that traditional assumptions that providing consumers with ‘the means to take matters into their own hands’ through enforcing rights to compensation through private or collective litigation in courts crumble when viewed against empirical evidence, and that new structures are being built in the EU for the resolution of consumers’ claims with traders (C2B claims). It identifies recent developments that private enforcement in Europe has been overtaken by what has been called ‘Consumer ADR’ (CDR) and public enforcement as more effective and efficient means of consumer redress. The goal of providing ‘access to justice’ for consumers and extensively increasing consumer redress is now realizable through the adoption of fresh techniques.