Anat Rosenberg, Senior lecturer at the Radzyner Law School, the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Israel, “Cultural legal history of advertising in Britain c. 1840-1914”
Marie-Eve Arbour, Professor, University of Laval, “Canadian perspectives on product safety”
Luke Nottage, Professor, University of Sydney, “Improving the Effectiveness of the Consumer Safety System: Australian Reform in Asia-Pacific Context” (because of the time zone difference, Prof. Nottage will not be participating live. You can see his presentation at: https://japaneselaw.sydney.edu.au/2020/10/consumer-product-safety-system/. Please send any reactions to [email protected]).
The IACL is now on Twitter. Follow us on @iacl_net
Seminar 2 Autumn 2020 3 November 2020 13.00 (UK) – Zoom details sent nearer the time via email (register for our newsletter).
Jacolien Barnard, Associate professor at the University of Pretoria and attorney at law, South Africa and Emilia Miscenic, Associate Professor, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law, “Online consumer transactions and redress: A comparison with EU and SA consumer protection”.
Maria Lorena Flórez Rojas, Profesora Asistente, Universidad de los Andes, Columbia, “The spike of digital platforms in Colombia: a consumer-centric vision”.
Aneta Wiewiorowska Senior Researcher at the European Legal Studies Institute – Department for European Legal History and European Union Private Law at the Osnabrück University, “Have we missed the tipping point? On making the EU legal system”.
The IACL is now on Twitter and will post regularly news updates as well as information about events. Follow us and keep up to date with all our news! The twitter handle is @iacl_net
Peter Cartwright, Professor of Consumer Protection Law, University of Nottingham, “Taxonomy of Consumer Vulnerability after Covid-19”.
Shirish Deshpande, Chairman – MGP India, “Flight and Holiday Cancellations due to Pandemic”.
Patricia Suarez, Presidenta Asufin, “Spain and Covid”.
12.30-13.00 Break
Session 2: 13.00-14.30
Giorgi Amiranashvili, Visiting Lecturer at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University; Assistant Professor at Tbilisi Open University; Senior Research Scientist at European University, “Measures for Consumer Protection Implemented by the Government of Georgia During Covid-19”.
Kristen Purcell, Chief Research Officer Consumer Report, “Financial Impact of Covid”.
Judith Fox, Clinical Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School, “Consumer Housing Issues”.
Prof. Me. Afonso Carvalho de Oliva, Mestre em Direitos Humanos, Universidade Tiradentes, “The Brazilian emergency Income Aid bailout and post-COVID-19 consumers surveillance”.
Session 3: 14.30-15.00 Open Forum
Conference held on ZOOM – full connexion details sent via email – register to our newsletter to receive log-in information.
The dynamics of the consumer market are such that it transcends borders and realms. The products and services traded in this market are evolving and changing on a daily basis. They are increasingly sophisticated and complex.
We are now on the frontiers of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which drives the search for a new regulatory landscape aligned with the challenges that this exciting epoch presents. If our aim is to protect consumers, especially vulnerable ones, we need to consciously consider, now more than ever, the type of approach we support. Is more intrusive and expansive regulation the answer? Should we completely rethink and innovate our approach to consumer protection and take it to new dimensions? Or do we need to consider a more balanced and proportional approach?
We invite you to join us in this exciting debate where we can freely share ideas in the interest of expanding knowledge and shaping policy in the area of consumer protection. At the 4th University of Pretoria International Consumer Protection Law Conference, we would like to explore the concept of a balanced approach between proportionality and consumer regulation and how it affects all the various aspects, policies, theories, areas and rights that is considered to be part of Consumer Protection. This would include for example General Consumer Protection, Financial Consumer Protection and Credit Law, E-Commerce and other related areas.
Send your abstract of no more than 500 words to Jani van Wyk at [email protected] by 30 June 2020.
Contact Jacolien Barnard at [email protected] or Jani van Wyk for more information
In addition … African realities and approaches to Consumer Protection
The UPICLC 2020 will include a concurrent stream of presentations for participants from other African jurisdictions (or any other jurisdiction) to disseminate the position relating to the conference theme and the position in Africa or a particular African country/countries.
We will also have a one-day workshop on 21 September 2020 facilitated by the Attorney General Alliance Africa (“AGA Africa”) on inter alia debt collection, credit reporting, privacy, e-commerce and secured transactions involving movable assets with a comparative perspective of the United States of America and how these transactions relate to the South African and African positions. Any other jurisdictions are welcome to attend!
Important information
Abstracts Abstracts must be submitted no later than 30 June 2020 and must not exceed 500 words. The abstract must contain the following information of the candidate: title, surname, affiliated institution, position held at institution and an e-mail address where the candidate can be reached. This information does not form part of the word count for the abstract.
All abstracts are peer-reviewed. Candidates are requested to proofread their abstracts to ensure that the language and style is of high quality.
All presentations at the conference will be in English and no provision is made for translators. As such, prospective participants need to be proficient in English or make provision for their own translators to accompany them. Feedback on submitted abstracts will be given within two weeks of date of submission of the abstracts
Venue The conference will take place from 21 to 23 September 2020 at the new Future Africa Campus of the University of Pretoria.
Accommodation is available at the venue and must be arranged directly with the venue. Visit the Future Africa website at www.futureafrica.science for more information.
Conference fee 3 500 ZAR which includes the AGA Africa-workshop, evening welcoming function, conference dinner, and refreshments and lunch on the days of the conference. Delegates are responsible for their own travel and accommodation expenses.
Masters and doctoral candidates, as well as post-graduate research fellows qualify for a reduced fee of 1 750 ZAR upon application to the conference committee. Delegates who only wish to attend one of the two conference days, together with the workshop, qualify for a reduced conference fee of 2 000 ZAR upon application to the conference committee.
Important dates
30 June 2020
Last day for submission of abstracts
14 August 2020
Last day for payment of conference fee
21 August 2020
Publication of draft program on conference website
21 September 2020
AGA Africa-workshopEvening: UPICLC Welcoming function
2019, the EU adopted two new Directives in the field of consumer contract law: The Directive on Contracts for the Supply of Digital Content and Services 2019/770 and the Consumer Sales Directive 2019/771. Both directives harmonise key consumer contract law rules regarding digital content, digital services, and smart goods across the EU.
At our Conference, international high-level experts from different European countries will deal with the scope and content of the new directives, their implications for industry and the question of how the new rules should be transposed in Member States. An additional panel will look at new technologies and business models (AI, blockchain, internet of bodies, Legal Tech) to see whether the new rules for consumer contracts are fit to deal with them.
Target Audience
The conference is suitable for all legal practitioners, academics, students, judges and government officials dealing with issues of digitalization and (consumer) contract law.
The conference forms part of the Project “PRG124 Protection of consumer rights in the Digital Single Market – contractual aspects”, funded by the Estonian Research Council. It is additionally supported by the Social Sciences Development Fund.
The IACL received two excellent bids to host the 2021 conference. The one bid was prepared by Santa Fe city, province of Santa Fe, Argentina, Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences, Litoral National University (prepared under the leadership of Prof Sebastián Barocelli from the University of Buenos Aires) to host the conference in Santa Fe in Argentina. The other bid was to host the conference in Hamburg, Germany and it was prepared by the Institute for Financial Services (IFF) (under the leadership of Dr Sally Peters and Prof. Dr Udo Reifner), an independent non-profit organization which was founded in 1987. After a rigorous voting process by the board of the IACL the bid was awarded to Hamburg. We congratulate the IFF for winning the bid to host the next IACL conference! The call for conference papers and more details regarding the 2021 conference in Hamburg (provisionally scheduled for July 2021) will follow in due course.
Identification Management in Nigeria: Innovations for Financial Inclusion
Ms Ogochukwu (Ogo) Monye, a law lecturer at the University of Benin, Nigeria and a doctoral candidate at the University of Cape Town, South Africa was awarded the 2019 Udo Reifner Prizefor the best abstract by a young doctoral scholar for her paper titled “Identification Management in Nigeria: Innovations for Financial Inclusion,” which discussed the important issue of lack of documentation that impedes numerous Nigerians from accessing financial services. The abstract of her paper follows below:
In Nigeria, about 41.6 percent of the population of the country lacks access to formal financial services according to the Central Bank of Nigeria. Studies have shown that apart from factors such as distance to banks, financial illiteracy, irregular income, unemployment and complexity of account opening; lack of proof of identity documentation debars a significant number of persons from accessing finance. This paper seeks to address the last issue as a significant factor of financial exclusion in order to help citizens more easily fulfil mandatory Know-Your-Customer (KYC) checks as well as facilitate access to additional financial products including loans, pension and insurance. Significantly, this is in line with goal 16.9 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) which envisions a legal identity for all by the year 2030. Notably, the National Identification Management Commission (NIMC) was established since 2007 to oversee all matters of citizens’ registration. So far, the commission has only succeeded in registering about 30 million Nigerians out of the total national population of approximately 198 million. The doctrinal method of research is employed as mostly legal literature and regulatory guidelines and policies are utilised. Furthermore, the author will draw examples from the regulatory landscape of other jurisdictions such as Pakistan, Peru and Uganda where positive strides have been achieved in the sphere of national registration. In Pakistan for instance, 98 per cent of the target population has been captured in the national identification programme including socially disadvantaged groups aided by a wide array of mobile registration agents comprising hikers, van drivers, mountaineers, bikers and skiers to locate citizens even in the most remote locations. Similarly, Uganda has attained 99 percent registration even though the programme was only commenced in the year 2014. The author proposes a self-sustaining universal national identification system that provides Nigerians with the needed foundational identity to access financial services with a view to achieving financial inclusion. The paper proposes an efficient national identification system that is cost-effective, inclusive and recognises the unique socio-cultural and demographic characteristics of Nigeria. The shortcomings of the existing identification system such as funding strategies, mode of registration and logistics management are highlighted. The paper proposes more effective means to reach excluded populations through an efficient national identification system founded on new and existing technology including biometrics, blockchain and the Internet of Things. The paper is expected to contribute to the growing body of literature on improving national identification and the global conversation on financial inclusion bolstered on an effective national identification system. Furthermore, the recommendations are intended to foster socially inclusive gains in several other sectors including agriculture, health and social security. Finally, even though this work is specifically focused on Nigeria, the findings offer veritable lessons for other nations grappling with financial exclusion by reason of inadequate or unsuitable identification systems.
INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL CONSUMER PROTECTION IN CHINA, JAPAN AND KOREA: CAN THE FIAGC MODEL HELP IN ASIA?
China, Japan and South Korea are important forces to promote development in Asian tourism and are significant tourist regions with great potential all over the world. In light of the statistics, in 2014, the number of exchange visitors among those three states reached 20 million 470 thousand. The scale of inbound tourism of three states accounted for nearly 60% of the total inbound tourism in the Asia-Pacific region. Huge market scale for the tourism industry created brand-new opportunities, but also encountered a lot of problems. During May Day holiday 2016, several Chinese tourist groups were cheated by the Japanese guide for shopping in a “Duty Free” shop which is specific for Chinese tourists and buying the health care products with price 3 times higher than that on the normal shop, but they did not know how to complaint in a strange place. In Seventh October 2016, thousands of visitors from china to Jeju Island in Korea were excluded and detained due to Visa problem, even though Jeju Island is a Visa-free area for Chinese visitors. Under such circumstances, the governments of China, Japan and Korea need solve lots of problems under the condition of regional cooperation. For instance, how to create a securer tourism environment and provide better travel services for tourists, and how the tourists protect themselves When their rights have been infringed in other two states. Regarding the area of regional consumer protection, FIAGC Model, as the regional institutions established by Latin American governments, Portugal and Spain, devoting to analyzing and discussing on consumer protection and development including travel consumer, is the world’s most advanced regional cooperation platform for consumer protection. This paper seeks to show the Asia-Pacific region can take the FIAGC Model as reference to establish a dialogue platform between the governments and further to promote cooperation among the states for protecting the rights and interests of travel consumers.