Grenzüberschreitende Verbraucherverträge

E-commerce integrates the consumer into global markets. But who provides the necessary institutional framework for international contractual exchange? Gralf-Peter Calliess analyzes in detail the current German legal regime for cross-border consumer contracts as well as recent reform projects in Europe and the United States. The results are devastating: the nation states are both unable and unwilling to guarantee legal certainty and fairness on the global market place. Within the broader context of the global governance debate, transnational legal regimes based on co-regulation of states, industry, and civil society are proposed as an alternative. The New Law Merchant as well as the Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy of ICANN are taken as blueprints for a global consumer protection regime, the establishment of which can be observed on the basis of codes of conduct, trustmark schemes, and online dispute resolution systems.