ABSTRACT
Consumer protection regimes tend to rely on a complex web of public regulation, private regulation and self-regulation. Attention is now turning to how these consumer rights can be made effective given the particular problems facing consumers, notably their typical lack of expertise and the low value of their claims making them reluctant to engage professionals or venture much effort or expense in seeking to remedy the problem. In contrast to many areas of substantive law where domestic and cross-border transactions are normally subject to the same rules, the European Union (EU) has often created parallel regimes specifically to address cross-border aspects of access to justice and enforcement. EU law seems to separate private rights concerned with individual redress and public law rules concerned with general market regulation. Ironically, the need for special cross-border rules on access to justice and enforcement has been created by the push to increase cross-border trade.
