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CONSUMER PROTECTION LAW

Core Module (10 ECTS)

Description

This module introduces students to the major issues of the European Consumer Protection Law. Special emphasis will be placed on the latest legal acts of the European Consumer Protection Law as well as on recent case-law by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).


Objectives

Upon completion of the course, the student will be able to

  • understand the present role of European Consumer Protection Law, its evolution, its scope of application and its main features
  • discuss the major issues and the latest developments in European Consumer Protection Law
  • interpret legal sources and literature in the field of European Consumer Protection Law
  • assess the impact of the European Consumer Protection Law on the national law of the Member States
  • apply such knowledge in complex case studies and offer creative solutions.

Contents

Topics discussed comprise both theoretical issues such as the notion of the consumer and the reasons for regulatory intervention in the field of consumer protection (information asymmetry, reduced negotiating power of consumers, prevention of over-indebtedness), as well as specific issues regulated at European level, such as the sales of goods to consumers, unfair commercial practices, general terms of transactions, consumer credit, mortgage credit, payment services and the supply of digital content and digital services. Emphasis will also be placed on the methodology of approaching and assessing national law in the light of consumer protection directives, so that students can interpret national law according to EU law.  


Academic Requirements

Participants are required to have at least some basic previous knowledge of Civil Law and Commercial Law.


Teaching method

The course  will  run  under  both  seminar  and  workshop  format,  which  requires  a high degree of student activity. Students are expected to write a paper and make a presentation based on the paper (formative assessment). Participants to  the  classes  will  be  supported  through  the  discussion  of jurisprudence  and  administrative  cases,  as  well  as by  other  practical  cases  and  related legal materials.


Lecturers

The course is taught by Professor Paraskevi Paparseniou, Assistant Professor Christina Livada and Assistant Professor Iakovos Venieris.


Assessment and testing

  • Oral exam (70%)

  • One short paper assignment presented orally in the class (30%)