Please cite this paper as: OECD (2001-02-28), “Inventory of Consumer Protection Laws, Policies and Practices Applied to Electronic Commerce”, OECD Digital Economy Papers, No. 54, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/234054742628 OECD Digital Economy Papers No. 54 Inventory of Consumer Protection Laws, Policies and Practices Applied to Electronic Commerce OECD Unclassified DSTI/CP(2000)5/FINAL Organisation de Coopération et de Développement Economiques Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 28-Feb-2001 ___________________________________________________________________________________________ English - Or. English DIRECTORATE FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INDUSTRY Unclassified DSTI/CP(2000)5/FINAL COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER POLICY INVENTORY OF CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS, POLICIES AND PRACTICES APPLIED TO ELECTRONIC COMMERCE English - Or. English JT00103535 Document complet disponible sur OLIS dans son format d’origine Complete document available on OLIS in its original format DSTI/CP(2000)5/FINAL INVENTORY OF CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS, POLICIES AND PRACTICES APPLIED TO ELECTRONIC COMMERCE Note by the Secretariat In keeping with the objectives of the OECD Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce and to complement the Committee’s ongoing work on electronic commerce issues, the Committee developed this comprehensive inventory of existing consumer protection laws, fair business, fair marketing and disclosure requirements.1 The inventory will serve as a starting point to gather and exchange information as government and private sector consumer policies and initiatives are reviewed, formulated, and implemented online. While a number of private sector initiatives to protect online consumers both exist and are under development, the inventory will not attempt to cover these efforts. Neither will the inventory attempt to cover the issues of privacy protection2, content3, or authentication and certification4 as the OECD has already produced recent inventories of these issues. The Inventory will be available on the OECD Web site and best efforts will be made to update it, as necessary, to incorporate revisions, amendments and additions to reflect the changes in OECD Member countries. The Inventory is intended to present an overview of existing public sector consumer laws, policies and practices by providing brief descriptions and, wherever possible, hypertext links to national government Web sites and other pertinent information. These links will allow readers to search out more specific detail about the national entries and access the most up-to-date information possible as changes and updates are introduced on the linked sites. As more and more national information is made available electronically, Member countries are encouraged to provide additional hypertext links to the text in an effort to develop the most accurate and useful collection of information possible. Copyright OECD, 2001 Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this material should be made to: Head of Publications Services, OECD, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. 2 DSTI/CP(2000)5/FINAL TABLE OF CONTENTS INVENTORY OF CONSUMER PROTECTION LAWS, POLICIES AND PRACTICES APPLIED TO ELECTRONIC COMMERCE........................................................................................................................ 2 Note by the Secretariat................................................................................................................................ 2 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 4 INVENTORY OF CONSUMER LAWS, POLICIES AND PRACTICES APPLIED TO ELECTRONIC COMMERCE IN OECD MEMBER COUNTRIES....................................................................................... 5 AUSTRALIA.............................................................................................................................................. 5 CANADA.................................................................................................................................................. 10 CZECH REPUBLIC ................................................................................................................................. 16 DENMARK .............................................................................................................................................. 18 FINLAND ................................................................................................................................................. 21 FRANCE................................................................................................................................................... 24 HUNGARY............................................................................................................................................... 26 ITALY....................................................................................................................................................... 29 JAPAN ...................................................................................................................................................... 30 KOREA..................................................................................................................................................... 34 MEXICO................................................................................................................................................... 38 NEW ZEALAND...................................................................................................................................... 41 NORWAY................................................................................................................................................. 44 POLAND .................................................................................................................................................. 47 SPAIN....................................................................................................................................................... 49 SWEDEN.................................................................................................................................................. 54 SWITZERLAND ...................................................................................................................................... 57 UNITED STATES .................................................................................................................................... 58 EUROPEAN COMMISSION................................................................................................................... 69 ANNEX ADDITIONAL MEMBER COUNTRY INFORMATION........................................................... 80 I. CANADA .............................................................................................................................................. 80 II. NORWAY............................................................................................................................................ 81 NOTES ......................................................................................................................................................... 87 3 DSTI/CP(2000)5/FINAL INTRODUCTION Consumer laws, policies and practices exist to help build consumers’ trust and confidence by protecting them from unfair or deceptive acts or practices and helping to establish a more balanced relationship between sellers and consumers in commercial transactions. Domestic retail markets offer consumers assurances that their interactions and purchases are covered by national legal and private sector consumer protections. The increase in cross-border transactions and the limited or non-existent face-to-face contact between businesses and consumers brought on by the growth of electronic commerce reinforce the need for a predictable and trustworthy global marketplace. OECD Member countries recognise that, in general, existing consumer protection laws and policies are equally applicable to electronic commerce. These same countries have also begun to review existing laws and practices to determine whether or not changes need to be made to accommodate the unique aspects of electronic commerce. Governments are challenged to strike the right balance between the desirability of social development and economic growth based on emerging network technologies, and the need to provide their citizens with effective and consistent consumer protection. The Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of Electronic Commerce5, approved on 9 December 1999 by the Council of the OECD are an important step in achieving these goals. The Guidelines are designed to help ensure that consumers are no less protected when shopping online than they are when buying from their local store or placing an order through a catalogue. The Guidelines reflect the existing legal protection available to consumers in more traditional forms of commerce and set forth the core characteristics of transparent and effective consumer protection for online business-to-consumer transactions. In keeping with the objectives of the Guidelines and to complement the ongoing work of the Committee on Consumer Policy on electronic commerce issues, the inventory is intended to provide a comprehensive overview of existing consumer protection laws,