Consumer Protection, Online Shopping Platforms and EU Law.

This book examines agent technology in ecommerce from a consumer protection angle to assess whether EU law contains adequate safeguards against the risks associated with its use. It concentrates on four agent types that assist the consumer while going through the online buying process and in particular, in finding products, making purchase decisions and concluding contracts online: notification, recommendation, comparison and contracting agents. It is held that these software agents are not bad or risky per se: the source of these risks is often certain unacceptable practices employed by agent providers while making the agents available for use by consumers. The book identifies and practically illustrates these risks based on actual such practices. It explains possible legal solutions and assesses the effectiveness of existing safeguards, concluding that the relevant EU legal response is not fully satisfactory: The book also suggests legislative amendments for improving the ability of the relevant legal framework adequately to respond to the needs of the introduction of agent technology in e-commerce.

Christiana Markou is a practising lawyer, Nicosia, Cyprus . She is also Scientific Collaborator at the European University Cyprus, and the University of Nicosia, Cyprus where she teaches European Consumer Law and Private International Law.