ABSTRACT
The area of law, referred to as contract law, it has been maintained that two contracting parties, must be regarded, from a legal point of view, to be of equal standing in terms of conferred rights and obligations irrespective of their respective bargaining power. As a consequence of such theoretical postulation and in light of the principle of party autonomy, that is, the principle that each party must choose what and with whom to contract, the law has refrained from meddling with the consumer/purchaser-provider/seller relationship as this area is deemed to be of a private nature. In European Union (EU) terminology, as a rule of thumb, the consumer is defined as an individual, a physical person rather than an entity, who acquires goods or services; his counterparty being a seller or supplier acting in a professional capacity. The evolution of consumerist theory in EU is centred, at a legislative level, on deeply ingrained piece of legislation: the unfair terms directive.
