2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Research on effective measures and legislations to eliminate deceptive business practices against consumers
| Project/Area Number |
17530043
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Social law
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| Research Institution | Saitama University |
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Principal Investigator |
HONJO Noboru Saitama University, Economics, Professor (10282419)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2005 – 2007
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| Keywords | Consumer Policy / Deceptive Business Practices / Unfair Business Practices |
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| Research Abstract |
This research is to examine effective measures and legislations to eliminate and prevent deceptive business practices against consumers through studying consumer policy of the U.S. of America and European Union.
In the U.S., the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has been coping with unfair business practices against consumers, applying the consumer protection provision of the Section 5 of the FTC Act which prohibits "deceptive or unfair conduct or practices" Through doing it, the FTC has been playing the most important role in the U.S. consumer policy.
Since later 1980s, according to the Section 13 (b) of the FTC Act, the FTC started to aggressively file a lot of infringements to district court which clearly violate the consumer protection provision of the Section 5. The Section 13 (b) gives the FTC the power to seek a permanent injunction order of court to the infringements clearly violating the consumer protection provision. The court can order a permanent injunction to violator if the vi
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olation has been properly proofed by the FTC and at the same time can order the ancillary consumer redress. The FTC has filed more than 1, 000 cases to court according to the Section 13 (b). Recently, the FTC has cooperated with the Criminal Affairs Bureau of Department of Justice to bring serious infringement cases into criminal prosecution.
On the other hand, in the EU (European Union), many EU Directives on consumer protection has been adopted to make the EU member countries ensure their legislations for promoting interests of consumers. In 2005, the EU adopted the Directive on unfair commercial practices. The Directive introduces a general prohibition on traders not to treat consumers unfairly. This prohibition is intended to function as safety-net consumer protection legislation.
Furthermore, the EU adopted the Regulation on Consumer Protection Cooperation in 2004 to cope with the growing cross border problems. The regulation lays down the framework conditions under which authorities, responsible for enforcement in the EU member countries, are tocooperate. Less
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Research Products
(4 results)
