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Information Obligations and Disinformation of Consumers: German Law Report

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Information Obligations and Disinformation of Consumers

Part of the book series: Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law ((GSCL,volume 33))

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Abstract

The German national report covers aspects regarding information/disinformation of consumers according to German law and thus serves as a source for the general report. Key topics are the characteristics of the underlying consumer model, pre-contractual information in general (with a particular focus on transparency requirements), food information, misleading commercial practices and control of unfair contract terms. Regarding the latter the German rules for the control of standard contract terms significantly differ from the rules that specifically transform the Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts (which is specifically discussed with regard to bargaining power). Sector specific observations cover the financial consumer and the digital consumer (especially addressing distance sales and data protection). Additionally, the national discussion regarding (mandatory) consumer information as a problem of information overload is being considered. Final observations regard measures relating to the education of consumers.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Insofar the wording of the rule is different from most consumer directives.

  2. 2.

    Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 of 25 October 2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, amending Regulations (EC) No 1924/2006 and (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Commission Directive 87/250/EEC, Council Directive 90/496/EEC, Commission Directive 1999/10/EC, Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Commission Directives 2002/67/EC and 2008/5/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 608/2004.

  3. 3.

    Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of 28 January2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food SafetyAuthorityand laying down procedures in matters of food safety.

  4. 4.

    Cf. von Hippel (1974) and Simitis (1976).

  5. 5.

    Directive 93/13/EEC of 5 April 1993 on unfair terms in consumer contracts.

  6. 6.

    Directive of 20 December 1985 to protect the consumer in respect of contracts negotiated away from business premises (85/577/EEC).

  7. 7.

    For example cf. Directive 2002/65/EC of 23 September 2002 concerning the distance marketing of consumer financial services […], Recital 3.

  8. 8.

    Cf. Heiderhoff (2016) mn. 191.

  9. 9.

    Cf. Consumer Conditions Scoreboard: Consumers at home in the Single Market (2017).

  10. 10.

    See Judgement of 16 September 2014, SAT.1, C-329/02 P, ECLI:EU:C:2004:532, paragraph 24.

  11. 11.

    Cf. also Recital 18 of the Directive 2005/29/EC.

  12. 12.

    With regard to the differentiation between “humans” and “econs” see Thaler and Sunstein (2009) Part I.

  13. 13.

    CJEU, judgment of 18. October 2012 – C-428/11, Purely Creative, ECLI:EU:C:2012:651, mn. 38; for an assessment of the decision see Scherer (2013), p. 705.

  14. 14.

    Cf. Wagner (2017), p. 1027: “Zehntausende verpflichten sich zum Kloputzen” (“tens of thousands commit themselves to toilet cleaning” via terms agreed to by a contract opening access to WLAN).

  15. 15.

    Directive 2011/83/EU of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights, amending Council Directive 93/13/EEC and Directive 1999/44/EC and repealing Directive 85/577/EEC and Directive 97/7/EC.

  16. 16.

    See Möstel (2015), p. 906, 908 et seq.

  17. 17.

    Cf. in that sense Rott (2015), p. 163, 164.

  18. 18.

    Wissenschaftlicher Beirat Verbraucher- und Ernährungspolitik beim BMELV (2010).

  19. 19.

    Ibid., p. 2.

  20. 20.

    Ibid., p. 2 et seq.

  21. 21.

    Ibid., p. 3.

  22. 22.

    For a survey see Bierekoven (2014), p. 283.

  23. 23.

    Directive 2002/65/EC of 23 September 2002 concerning the distance marketing of consumer financial services […].

  24. 24.

    Directive 2008/48/EC of 23 April 2008 on credit agreements for consumers and repealing Council Directive 87/102/EEC.

  25. 25.

    Cf. Directive 2007/64/EC of 13 November 2007 on payment services in the internal market […] which s will be replaced by Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market […] in January 2018.

  26. 26.

    Wendehorst (2016), § 312a BGB mn. 38.

  27. 27.

    The question of transparency of the information about the right to withdrawal is e.g. discussed by OLG Hamburg Judgment of 3. 6. 2010 – 3 U 125/09, MultiMedia und Recht (MMR) 2011, 100.

  28. 28.

    OLG Koblenz, Judgment of 19. 08. 2016 – 8 U 369/16, BeckRS 2016, 119080, mn. 32 et seqq.

  29. 29.

    OLG Koeln, Judgment of 24. 02. 2016 – 13 U 84/15, Verbraucher und Recht (VuR), 2nd guideline.

  30. 30.

    BGH Judgment of 14.3.2017 – XI ZR 442/16, NJW RR 2017, 812, 815, mn. 23.

  31. 31.

    See BGH Judgment of 16. 12. 2015 – IV ZR 71/14, BeckRS 2015, 21001.

  32. 32.

    BGH Judgment of 10. 10. 2017 – XI ZR 443/16, Wertpapiermitteilungen (WM) 2017, 2248.

  33. 33.

    BGH Judgment of 22. 11. 201 – XI ZR 434/15, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) 2017, 1306.

  34. 34.

    Grube (2016), Art. 13 mn. 59.

  35. 35.

    Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs.

  36. 36.

    CJEU, Judgement of 4 June 2015, Teekanne – C-195/14, ECLI:EU:C:2015:361.

  37. 37.

    Ohly (2016), § 3a mn. 64.

  38. 38.

    Directive 2005/29/EC of 11 May 2005 concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market […] (‘Unfair Commercial Practices Directive’).

  39. 39.

    Steckenborn (2012), p. 2324.

  40. 40.

    Dassbach (2016), p. 441, 444.

  41. 41.

    For details see Götting and Nordemann (2016) § 5 UWG mn. 0.17.

  42. 42.

    For details see Dassbach (2016), p. 441.

  43. 43.

    Goldmann (2016, § 9) mn. 13.

  44. 44.

    BGH Judgment of 26. 2. 2013 – XI ZR 417/11, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) 2013, 1803, mn, 23.

  45. 45.

    BGH Judgment of 26. 7. 2012 – VII ZR 262/11, NJW-Rechtsprechungsreport (NJW-RR) 2012, 1261, mn. 12.

  46. 46.

    BGH Judgment of 29. 09. 1983, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) 1984, 171.

  47. 47.

    Regional Court (Landgericht, LG) Berlin NJW-RR 2012, 424.

  48. 48.

    BGH, Judgment of 18. 02. 1992 – XI ZR 126/91, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) 1992, 1822, 1823.

  49. 49.

    Cf. Pfeiffer (2013) introduction mn. 23.

  50. 50.

    Cf. Linck (2017) § 35 mn. 17.

  51. 51.

    Cf. Pfeiffer (2013) § 310 Abs. 3, mn. 23.

  52. 52.

    See Pfeiffer (2013) § 310 Abs. 3, mn. 26 et seq.

  53. 53.

    Cf. Kappus (2016), p. 33.

  54. 54.

    Preliminary ruling C-26/13 – Árpád Kásler and Hajnalka Káslerné Rábai v OTP Jelzálogbank Zrt, mn. 55, ECLI:EU:C:2014:282.

  55. 55.

    Pfeiffer (2013) § 307 mn. 253.

  56. 56.

    CJEU, Judgement of 28 July 2016, Amazon EU Sàrl, C-191/15 - ECLI:EU:C:2016:612, mn. 82, 2nd finding.

  57. 57.

    See Thüsing (2018) Transparengebot Rn. 2.

  58. 58.

    Preliminary ruling C-26/13 – Árpád Kásler and Hajnalka Káslerné Rábai v OTP Jelzálogbank Zrt, mn. 74, ECLI:EU:C:2014:282.

  59. 59.

    BGH, Judgement of 15.06.1983 – IV a ZR 31/82, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW), 1983, p. 2638; cf. further Lindacher and Hau (2013) § 305c mn. 111.

  60. 60.

    Directive 2014/17/EU of 4 February 2014 on credit agreements for consumers relating to residential immovable property and amending Directives 2008/48/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010.

  61. 61.

    Cf. In that sense Grüneberg (2018) § 511 mn. 2.

  62. 62.

    Krüger (2016), p. 397, 402 assumes a Rücksichtnahmepflicht (“obligation to be considerate of”) as defined in § 241 II BGB.

  63. 63.

    Schnauder (2014), p. 3.

  64. 64.

    See Schnauder (2014), p. 3, with regard to § 491a BGB as induced by Directive 2008/48/EC on consumer credit agreements.

  65. 65.

    See Koch (2012), p. 485; Köndgen (2011), p. 283, 285; Klöhn (2006), p. 80 et seqq.

  66. 66.

    Regulation 1094/2010/EU of 24 November 2010 establishing a European Supervisory Authority (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority) […].

  67. 67.

    Fasel (2011), p. 48.

  68. 68.

    Directive 1999/44/EC of 25 May 1999 on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees.

  69. 69.

    Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).

  70. 70.

    Cf. Mantz (2018) Art. 25 mn 65.

  71. 71.

    For a definition of information overload cf. Jacoby (1977).

  72. 72.

    Directive 94/47/EC of 26 October 1994 on the protection of purchasers in respect of certain aspects of contracts relating to the purchase of the right to use immovable properties on a timeshare basis.

  73. 73.

    Kind (1998).

  74. 74.

    Kind (1998), p. 481.

  75. 75.

    Kind (1998), p. 527.

  76. 76.

    Kind (1998), p. 529.

  77. 77.

    Kind (1998), p. 534.

  78. 78.

    Kind (1998), p. 532.

  79. 79.

    Kind (1998), p. 533.

  80. 80.

    Cf. Spiegel online (2009); further information can be obtained via: https://www.foodwatch.org/de/informieren/ampelkennzeichnung/mehr-zum-thema/studie-vergleich-ampel-gda/.

  81. 81.

    Fasel (2011).

  82. 82.

    Ibid., p. 48.

  83. 83.

    Ibid., p. 56.

  84. 84.

    Ibid., p. 54 et seq.

  85. 85.

    Ibid., p. 53.

  86. 86.

    Koch (2012), p. 485; Köndgen (2011), p. 283, 285; Klöhn (2006), p. 80 et seqq.

  87. 87.

    Schnauder (2014), p. 3, with regard to § 491a BGB as induced by the second directive on consumer credit agreements.

  88. 88.

    BGH, Judgment of 9. 5. 2001 – IV ZR 138/99, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift (NJW) 2001, 2012.

  89. 89.

    Hußmann et al. (2016), p. 15.

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Acknowledgement

The paper is also published in Schmidt-Kessel (ed.), German National Reports on the 20th Congress of Comparative Law, Mohr Siebeck Tübingen 2018.

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  1. Greifswald University, Faculty of Law and Economics, Chair for Civil Law, Private International Law, European Private Law and Comparative Law, Greifswald, Germany

    Boris Schinkels

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    Gert Straetmans

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Schinkels, B. (2019). Information Obligations and Disinformation of Consumers: German Law Report. In: Straetmans, G. (eds) Information Obligations and Disinformation of Consumers. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 33. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18054-6_3

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