The economic basket P P P
Online handling of payment card information.
Misleading advertising.
Delivery of defective products.
A new idiosyncrasy of e-commerce is the internationalisation of consumer protection, which is not a vital issue in traditional commerce. In the past, consumers rarely needed international protection. Consumers were buying locally and therefore needed local customer protection. With e-commerce, an increasing number of transactions take place across international borders. Jurisdiction is a significant issue surrounding consumer protection. Jurisdiction involves two main approaches. The first favours the seller (mainly e-business) and is a country-of-origin/prescribed-by-seller approach. In this scenario, e-commerce companies have the advantage of relying on a predictable and well-known legal environment. The other approach, which favours the customer, is a country-of-destination approach. The main disadvantage for e-commerce companies is the potential for exposure to a wide variety of legal jurisdictions. One possible solution to this dilemma is a more intensive harmonisation of consumer protection rules, making the question of jurisdiction less relevant. As with other e-commerce issues, the OECD assumed the lead by adopting the Guidelines for Consumer Protection in the Context of E-commerce (1999)17 and the Guidelines for Protecting Consumers from Fraudulent and Deceptive Commercial Practices Across Borders18 (2003). The main principles established by the OECD are still valid and have been adopted by other business associations, including the International Chamber of Commerce and the Council of Better Business Bureaus.19 The EU offers a high level of e-commerce consumer protection and promotes awareness campaigns on online shopping issues. The problem of jurisdiction has been solved via the Brussels I Regulation,20 which stipulates that consumers will always have recourse to local legal protection. Even with the established EU-wide regulations on e-commerce, the level of online shopping in the region has remained relatively low: 37% of EU citizens bought goods and services online in 2010 and only 7% have placed online cross-border orders,21 denoting a still-low confidence in shopping online, especially when it involves a foreign element. At global level, no apposite international legal instruments have been established. One of the most apt, the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (1980),22 does not cover consumer contracts and 123