Face-to-face , second term, 30 hours of theory.

Second term
Thursday from 14:00 to 16:00 at 119 Marais 1300

The course is taught in French.
Certain texts, case laws or documents analysed during the course can, however, be written in Dutch or in English.

The course provides basic training with regard to the main types of protection granted to consumers by European and Belgian law in their relations with the suppliers of goods and services from both the private and public sectors.

This course's objectives are essentially the understanding of the concepts, their application to concrete situations as well as the development of a critical position, all within the scope of consumer protection.

For the Bachelor in Law :

For the Bachelor in Law :

INTRODUCTION TO CONSUMER PROTECTIONS

I. Concepts and principles with regard to consumer protection

II. History of consumer law

PART II. THE PROTECTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL INTERESTS OF THE CONSUMER

I. The physical safety of the consumer: the protection of the health and the physical integrity of consumers.

II. The safety of transactions concluded by the consumer: the protection of their economic and legal interests.

This part of the course deals with 3 axes:

2.1. The “fundamental” rights, which any consumer enjoys

2.2. The sale of products and the performance of services by a professional to a consumer

- The protections resulting from the Civil Code (guarantees relative to consumer goods) or based thereupon (e.g. rules of interpretation, enforceability of the general terms and conditions of the private and public sectors, etc.) (for review)

- The cross-cutting/horizontal protections resulting from specific laws (Economic Code)

2.3. The specific provisions with regard to e-commerce (Economic Code)

PART II. THE PROTECTION OF THE COLLECTIVE INTERESTS OF CONSUMERS

I. The representation of the collective interests of consumers

II. Specific regulations on jurisdictional competence

III. Sanctions intended to ensure the effectiveness of consumer rights (injunctions, class actions, sanctions, etc.)

PART III. ALTERNATIVE MODES OF RESOLVING DISPUTES

CONCLUSIONS AND CRITICAL APPROACH

1. Ex-cathedra Learning.
This does not exclude the use of active pedagogical methods and the intervention of certain guest speakers involved in the “world” of consumer affairs, who will be invited to share their knowledge and experience on certain topics.

2. Emphasis is placed on the acquisition of practical skills; the objective is primarily to first provide students with the legal tools in the field of consumer protection.

1. Subjet matter to be assessed
The examination covers the subject matter taught during the oral course, supplemented where appropriate by course materials (see below), as well as by the documents indicated by the lecturer.

2. Assessment methods

Assessment takes place in the form of an oral examination or writing work on consumer's law.

3. Documents allowed during the examination
Throughout the examination, students may have at their disposal:
- their code(s), as well as the specific laws related to the material taught;
Please note that students are not allowed, however, to have codes that include summaries of jurisprudence and doctrinal comments.
- the decisions handed down (jurisprudence) to which references are made during the course on the condition, however, that they are integral reproductions of the aforementioned decisions (exclusion of the excerpts of of summaries of jurisprudence, etc.).

4. References and annotations are allowed

4.1. The documents allowed in accordance with point 3 above can:
- contain underlined or highlighted passages (fluorescent markers);
Words can also be underlined or circled.
- contain a reference to a legal or a legal precedent (in this last case, only the mention of the court hearing the case and the date of the decision are allowed), nothing more.

4.2. The use of key words and other annotations are not, on principle, allowed, unless by doing so it involves the citing of a code or of a specific act of legislation with the goal of better orienting one's search in the code or the body of legislation.

Any non-observance of the above mentioned instructions will be reported to the president of the jury, without consideration of the student's intention or of his/her good or bad faith.

The course materials include references to a deliberately limited bibliography, the aim being only to allow the students who wish so to have access to one or the other “fudamental” reference on the subject.

Moreover, certain court decisions may be mentioned by the lecturer.
In this case, the concerned court decisions are to be considered as part of the course material and, thus, subject to being included in the examination.

1. Lecture material
Course outlines are handed out to students prior to each class session.

2. Legislation material

Students should have a copy of the legal texts covering all material discussed in class.

Students are advised, but not required, to purchase the following codes:

C. Delforge et P. Jadoul (coord.), Obligations, Contrats et Responsabilité - Principaux textes juridiques, Limal, Anthemis, 2014, 852 p.

This code can be purchased at the university reprography service.

3. Jurisprudence

The court decisions that are considered as being part of the course are made available to students (on eSaintLouis).
The student can supplement these decisions with any decision related to the subject matter.
These decisions may be used during the examination (preparation of the questions and presentation).