« Alcohol Consumption in Brazil II: Binge Drinking | Home | Alcohol Consumption in Brazil III: Adolescent Drinking »
Regional Economic Integration and Consumer Protection
By Keith R | October 11, 2007
Topics: Consumer Protection | No Comments »
Next week the Research Group on International and Comparative Consumer Law (Groupe de recherche en droit international et comparé de la consommation – Gredicc) of the University of Quebec at Montreal (Université du Québec à Montréal – UQÀM) will be hosting an interesting international conference on "Regional Economic Integration and Consumer Protection in the Americas and in Europe."
I wish I could attend in person (especially since I love the beautiful city of Montreal), but unfortunately I have a conflict. I am, however, trying to get someone presenting or attending to do a guest post on it afterward. If you can make it to Montreal and would like to attend, contact the conference organizer (and Gredicc Director) Professor Thierry Bourgoignie at bourgoignie[DOT]thierry[AT]uqam[DOT]ca
[If you do plan to attend, or if you cannot but the topic interests you, you can get a decent (if I do say so myself!) background briefing on the role of these regional integration organizations on the development of consumer law in LAC at this Temas Tools page.]
As the title suggests, the conference juxtaposes discussion of the European Union (EU) experience in managing the intersection of trade and consumer laws with the more limited experience in the same field of the regional integration organizations in the Americas, namely MERCOSUR/MERCOSUL, the Andean Community (CAN), the Central American Integration System (SICA), Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and last but not least, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
While the EU section holds some personal interest for me (I covered the evolution of EU consumer policy for 14 years during the 1980s and early 1990s), it's really the other part — the consumer/trade law interface in the Americas context — that fascinates me. That's because this is the first instance I've seen of a full discussion of the issue in the Americas context. And after all, this is The Temas Blog — we're all about Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) here.
The relevant conference portions on Thursday, 18 October, are:
"Legitimacy of regional consumer protection initiatives and achievements to date"
- NAFTA and EC
- NAFTA – Prof. James Nehf, School of Law, Indiana Univ.
- SICA and Andean Community – Presentations:
- SICA – Prof. Elizabeth Villalta, Chairman of the Inter-American Juridical Committee, Organization of American States (OAS)
- CAN – Erika Tinajeros, Ministry of Justice, Bolivia, and Prof. Carlos Soto Coaguila, Law School, Lima Univ.
- CARICOM and MERCOSUR – Presentations:
- CARICOM – Philip McClauren, Director, Ministry of Trade, St. Lucia
- MERCOSUR – Prof. Claudia Lima Marques, Fed. Univ. of Rio Grande do Sul (UFGRS)
Specific contributions:
- "The potential and limits of protection of economic interests of consumers in MERCOSUR" – Sheraldine Pinto Oliveros, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Italy)
- "La politique de protection du consommateur dans le cadre de l’intégration régionale du Mercosur" – Prof. Roberto Grassi Neto, Faculdad Autonoma e Direito, Universidade Paulista (UNIP)
- "Consumer law in Mercosul: recent challenges" – Roberto Pfeiffer, Executive Director, PROCON São Paulo, and Ricardo Morishita Wada, Ministry of Justice (MJ), Brazil
- "The role and potential impact of an Inter-American convention on the law applicable to some consumer contracts and consumer transactions or CIDIP VII" – Prof. Fabiana D'Andrea Ramos, Univ. Fed. Fluminense (UFF)
- "The approximation of the laws relating to consumer credit in Mercosur countries" – Wellerson Pereira, Fed. Univ. of Rio Grande do Sul (UFGRS)
- "Consumer overindebtedness in Latin America" – Judges Karen Bertoncello and Clarissa Lima, Rio Grande do Sul
The relevant sessions on Friday, 19 October will be:
"Reconciling National Consumer Protection Measures with Free Trade Rules"
- NAFTA and EC
- NAFTA – Prof. James Nehf, School of Law, Indiana Univ.
- SICA and Andean Community – Presentations:
- SICA – Prof. Elizabeth Villalta, Chairman of the Inter-American Juridical Committee, Organization of American States (OAS)
- CAN – Erika Tinajeros, Ministry of Justice, Bolivia, and Prof. Carlos Soto Coaguila, Law School, Lima Univ.
- Special Lunch Lecture: "Consumer Protection in Brazil: Lessons from the High Courts" – Hon. Antonio Benjamin, Judge, Supreme Court of Brazil
- CARICOM and MERCOSUR – Presentations:
- CARICOM – Philip McClauren, Director, Ministry of Trade, St. Lucia
- MERCOSUR – Prof. Claudia Lima Marques, Fed. Univ. of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
Specific contributions:
- "Public utility network services and the consumer interest under regional integration" – Robin Simpson, Consumers International
"Comparative Thoughts about the Status of Consumer Policy Under Regional Agreements in the Americas and in Europe"
- Antonio Serra, Director, Consumer Law and Institutions Programme, Consumers International Regional Office
- Robin Simpson, Consumers International
"Prospects for Further Research, Action and Networking"
- Jean-Michel Arrighi, Head, Dept. of International Legal Affairs, OAS
- Prof. Jorge tomillo Urbina, Head of the Euro-American Chair on Legal Protection of Consumers, Vice-Rector, Univ. of Cantabria, Spain
- Prof. Thierry Bourgoignie, Director, Gredicc
Tags: Americas, Andean Community, CARICOM, Comunidad Andina, consumer law, Consumer Protection, Consumers International, defensa del consumidor, defesa do consumidor, European Union, Gredicc, Inter-American Juridical Committee, Justice Ministry, MERCOSUL, MERCOSUR, NAFTA, OAS, OEA, PROCON, regional economic integration, SICA, St. Lucia, UFGRS, União Europea, Unión Europea, University of Quebec