Refining the legal approach towards the underage consumer: A process still in its infancy

• Author: Lodewijk Pessers
• Position: Amsterdam, LLM, MA, Institute for Information Law (IViR) University of Amsterdam
• Pages: 2-11

2012

Lodewijk Pessers

2

1

Refining the legal approach

towards the underage consumer:

A process still in its infancy

by Lodewijk Pessers, Amsterdam, LLM, MA, Institute for Information Law (IViR)

University of Amsterdam

© 2012 Lodewijk Pessers

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Recommended citation: Lode wijk Pessers, Refining the legal appro ach towards the underage consumer: A process still in it s

infancy 3 (2012) JIPITEC 1, para 2

Keywords: Minors; E-Commerce; Underage Consumers; Contractual Capacities; Unfair Commercial Practices

A. Introduction

1

If asked in what respects present-day consumers

differ from those of a century ago, one can think

of many possible answers, such as disposable in-

come, brand loyalty, mobility, mentality and so on.

   

come to the mind: consumers have become much

younger. The advent of e- and m-commerce has fur-

ther sped up this development that was already in

full swing. Nowadays children and adolescents con-

stitute a sizable segment of the consumer popula-

tion with their very own, sometimes contradictory,

characteristics. On the one hand they are viewed as

particularly vulnerable and protection-needy, while

on the other they can be savvy and media literate as

no other group. But not only may the nature of this

heterogeneous consumer category be complex, the

legal regime(s) under which they fall can be just as

intricate. Especially the application of traditional,

national rules in a digital and cross-border environ-

ment may prove confusing, to say the least. This sit-

uation thus gives rise to a broad spectrum of ques-

tions that is likely to continue to occupy the minds

of academics (and hopefully those of politicians as

well) in the years to come.

2

Recently, the author of this article contributed to an

EU-commissioned study on ‘digital content services

for consumers’ in which the subgroup of minors re-

ceived research attention as well. The comparative

analysis that was carried out in this context gives

interesting insights into the current European sit-

uation with regard to the underage consumer. The

perspective of this article, however, will be broader

(both in space and in time) than this study alone: the

child-consumer will also be put in a historical con-

text, which may shed some light on long-run ten-

dencies regarding the economic relevance and au-

tonomy of this subgroup as well as the legislative

responses to these developments. Against this back-

drop it will be examined in which direction(s) law-

makers have moved so far and to what extent this

concords with everyday practice.

3 Besides that, there is the continuous interplay with

technological aspects. While new media, platforms

and devices can complicate the functioning of ex-

isting rules and provisions, they can also be used to

make enforcement more effective and reliable. As



challenges and opportunities that the on-going dig-

itization may bring about.