IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jcopol/v43y2020i1d10.1007_s10603-019-09433-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From Fragmentation to Harmonization of Consumer Law: The Perspective of China

Author

Listed:
  • D. Wei

    (University of Macau)

Abstract

Since the appearance of consumer law, its norm production landscape has been highly diversified and fragmented among the countries. The features of “lawlessness in some sectors” and “the lack of efficiency and effectiveness of national legal systems” give rise to the proliferation of norm producing originated by other bodies such as international organizations, industries, traders and even hybrid entities composing the public, the private and the civil society. There are many variations and differences in consumer law and policy between the Global North and the Global South. In recent years, harmonization of standards, codes of conduct and good practices have already taken place through international organizations and global businesses. In relation to harmonization of consumer laws among different countries, there have been skeptical views regarding such feasibility taking into account varying levels of institutional development. Thomas Bernauer explains “variation of consumer protection standards across countries may be a source of trade disputes.” Starting from the past decade, harmonization of consumer law has been achieved or at least advocated at regional levels. Harmonization easily starts within a region since regional integration creates opportunities for approximation of legal infrastructures. The EU is a very successful case in harmonizing consumer laws further guaranteed by a strong judicial system. In Latin America and in Asia, harmonization projects are ongoing and similar initiatives have also been supported. Whilst acknowledging the existing fragmentation and variations of consumer law worldwide, the author highlights the converging environment of consumer protection due to challenges brought by the globalization and advocates the feasibility of the harmonization approach from the perspective of a dynamically emerging and transitional economy such as China. At the outset, it explores the underpinnings of the consumer law which is a fairly modern legal intervention. China, like other countries, has been modernizing its consumer law by adopting a human-centred, rights-centred and social values-centred approach. Then, it examines the more important role played by emerging countries, particularly in areas such as global B2C e-commerce, telecommunication, financial services and mass tourism, and examines international dialogues and cooperation with active participation by the developing countries including China. There is a need for harmonization of consumer laws in the Mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong regions. China has made some progress on its own, but achieving harmonization in the wider region presents particular challenges. The author hopes that the harmonization would be achieved not only by creating consistency of rules but also by coordinating enforcement across borders. In conclusion, the author seems optimistic for a possible universal model law, which contains the minimum legal requirements and standards of consumer protection and mechanisms to strengthen cross-border cooperation to maximize the harmonization of consumer protection worldwide.

Suggested Citation

  • D. Wei, 2020. "From Fragmentation to Harmonization of Consumer Law: The Perspective of China," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 35-56, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jcopol:v:43:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10603-019-09433-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s10603-019-09433-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10603-019-09433-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10603-019-09433-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christian Twigg-Flesner & Hans Micklitz, 2010. "Think Global—Towards International Consumer Law," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 201-207, September.
    2. Oecd, 2018. "Consumer protection enforcement in a global digital marketplace," OECD Digital Economy Papers 266, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. A. Mathios & H.-W. Micklitz & L. A. Reisch & J. Thøgersen & C. Twigg-Flesner, 2020. "Journal of Consumer Policy’s 40th Anniversary Conference: A Forward Looking Consumer Policy Research Agenda," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 1-9, March.
    2. H. Matnuh, 2021. "Rectifying Consumer Protection Law and Establishing of a Consumer Court in Indonesia," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 483-495, September.
    3. L. Nottage, 2020. "Improving the Effectiveness of the Consumer Product Safety System: Australian Law Reform in Asia-Pacific Context," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 829-850, December.
    4. K. Thomas, 2022. "Amending China’s Notion of a “Consumer”: Lessons from Comparative Analysis of the PRC Consumer Protection Law," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 435-456, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oliver Budzinski & Annika Stöhr, 2019. "Competition policy reform in Europe and Germany – institutional change in the light of digitization," European Competition Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 15-54, January.
    2. Emma Leong, 2022. "Regulating Borrower Hardship in Australia, Singapore, and Hong Kong: Payment Holidays During COVID-19 and Beyond," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 411-433, September.
    3. M. Durovic, 2020. "International Consumer Law: What Is It All About?," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 125-143, March.
    4. H. Matnuh, 2021. "Rectifying Consumer Protection Law and Establishing of a Consumer Court in Indonesia," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 483-495, September.
    5. I. Benöhr, 2023. "The Right to Water and Sustainable Consumption in EU Law," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 53-77, March.
    6. K. Thomas, 2022. "Amending China’s Notion of a “Consumer”: Lessons from Comparative Analysis of the PRC Consumer Protection Law," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 435-456, September.
    7. A. Mathios & H.-W. Micklitz & L. A. Reisch & J. Thøgersen & C. Twigg-Flesner, 2020. "Journal of Consumer Policy’s 40th Anniversary Conference: A Forward Looking Consumer Policy Research Agenda," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 1-9, March.
    8. I. Benöhr, 2020. "The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection: Legal Implications and New Frontiers," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 105-124, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jcopol:v:43:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10603-019-09433-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.