Legal Regulation of Consumer Contracts in the EU

Abstract

 The article examines the peculiarities of legal regulation of consumer contracts in the European Union. Current approaches to defining consumer contracts are analyzed, with particular attention paid to identifying their essential characteristics and defining the legal status of the involved parties. General principles governing consumer protection in the European Union, including harmonization, adequate consumer information, quality and product safety compliance, and effective judicial and extrajudicial protection, are characterized. The main European Union legislative instruments that form a unified system of consumer contract regulation, notably the directives on consumer rights, unfair contractual terms, and liability for defective products, are discussed. The author provides an in-depth analysis of the criteria for assessing unfair contractual terms and outlines the consequences of recognizing them as invalid, relying extensively on the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The article also addresses extrajudicial dispute resolution as an effective instrument for consumer rights protection within the EU. Furthermore, problematic aspects of EU consumer contract law associated with current challenges posed by the digital economy are identified, indicating the need for further modernization of European legislation. Prospects for further research are linked to exploring opportunities for adapting the legal experiences of the European Union in consumer contract regulation into Ukrainian national law within the context of Ukraine’s European integration.