Consumer Protection and the Digital Economy

Christopher Willett is Professor in Commercial Law. For 30 years he has taught, researched, published and advised in the areas of UK, EU and global consumer and contract law. He regularly conducts studies and research reports and advises on law reform for the UK government, the EU and other bodies.Elisabetta Bergamini is Full Professor at the University of Udine. She teaches European Union law, international private law and international law at the University of Udine and has been awarded various Jean Monnet Modules. She has been coordinating an International Summer School on consumer protection since 2008 at the University of Udine with the involvement of different foreign universities.

• 1. Consumer Protection and the Digital Economy: A Research Companion2. The Erosion of Freedom of Expression on Social Media Platforms, and the Suppression of the Voices of Marginalised Groups3. Digital Platforms and the Collaborative Economy: The (Re)identification and (Re)definition of Legal Relationships Between Service Providers and Consumers Through the Lens of Competition Law4. Crypto-assets as a Digital Disruption – Towards Novel Regulatory Approaches to Consumer Protection in Financial Services5. Brexit Ideologies and UK Digital Consumer Law6. Transparency of Fees and Charges in Consumer Credit Contracts. Theoretical and Empirical Insights from the Romanian Banking System7. A Missed Opportunity? The Empirical Analysis of the Adaptation of Hungarian Higher Education to the European Union’s Digital Copyright Reform and the COVID-19 Pandemic8. Text and Data Mining within the EU Digital Single Market: ‘Mining’ Room for Private Users9. AI-Related Opportunities and Risks for Consumers’ Rights in the Evolving EU Legal Framework10. EU Private International Law Rules in the Field of Consumer Protection and Digital Disruption: A Real Improvement for Consumers or a Framework Still in Need of Intervention?11. Choice-of-Court and Choice-of-Law Clauses in Digital Consumer Contracts: Current Practices and Compliance by Online Platforms12. Digitalisation and Consumer Alternative Dispute Resolution.Despite (apparent) Lack of Success, Are These the Seeds of a New Way of Approaching Disputes?

Digitalisation is offering new opportunities as well as creating new risks and challenges. This time collection of essays by experts in their fields provides a range of insights from a consumer protection, intellectual property and access to justice perspective. It is an important contribution to these contemporary debates.Geraint Howells, Professor at University of Galway