Consumer law

EU Consumer Law is moving fast in the digital age. Its EU legal framework is quite complex and some distinct subsectors exist, such as consumer finance or information society services for consumers.

Convergence and harmonisation of EU consumer law began during the last decade of the 20th century and has now reached its apex with the introduction of the Omnibus and the Collective Redress Directives.

With cross-border digital trade becoming the norm for consumers in the COVID era, it is of paramount importance for both new and established businesses to obtain reliable and comprehensive legal advice in consumer law. The country-of-origin rules does make things more straightforward, yet not all directives are created equal: mandatory local consumer law must be reviewed for conflict before you move into your next target jurisdiction.

Information society service providers, e-shops, and digital content service providers must be mindful of the interplay between consumer and competition law, IP law, data protection, and new EU VAT rules, anti-geoblocking regulation, etc. when offering their services in the Digital Single Market.

For consumer-centred businesses, our team possesses just the right skill set to navigate you through the legal landscape and keep your risk exposure at a minimum.

Our legal design meets the highest industry standards of offering concise and clear information with all important highlights in order to provide smooth and satisfactory UX. As lawyers native to the digital business, we fully realise that the quest for compliance must never result in shopping carts’ abandonment.

100% digital aside, brick-and-mortar clients must obtain competent advice in consumer law before they launch their promotional games or loyalty campaigns, or draft their commercial guarantee terms and conditions. With clients in consumer appliances, FMCG, retail pharmaceuticals, paints, and home improvement products, consumer loans, and retail insurance shops our team is very well acquainted with the array of potential issues and caveats that any consumer-facing business must take into account.

Following the Dieselgate, Airbnb price presentation, in-App purchases missteps, the EU passed the nuclear option of collective redress and damage awards for mass (cross-country) consumer law breaches into law. Long before the EU-wide consumer class action lawsuits become part of national laws at the end of 2022, businesses must be ready to implement preventive defence strategies to mitigate the risk of facing multi-million damage awards in civil litigation. From niche and relatively low-impact litigation and drafting techniques, EU consumer law prowess has just become essential for our corporate clients dealing with end consumers.