ABSTRACT
Consumer credit law is a paradigm for contemporary consumer law. Its provisions include information transparency, the right of the consumer to withdraw from a credit contract, the opportunity for adjustment in the light of changed circumstances, the control of unfair terms, and screening of lenders.1 A combination of private and public regulation, consumer credit law mixes economic and social concerns: the former represented by the interest in a transparent, competitive market, the latter by a concern for the potentially adverse social consequences of over-indebtedness. The recent proposal for a new EU Directive on Consumer Credit is representative of this paradigm with its combination of proposals to increase competition in the credit market while at the same time addressing problems of over-indebtedness that might lead to ‘economic exclusion and costly action on the part of Member States’ social services’.2 1 discuss in this chapter the role of information obligations in consumer credit law as a technique for achieving a transparent and competitive credit market and also in addressing over-indebtedness - a phenomenon of current concern in a number of EU
This chapter benefited from the comments of participants at the Symposium ‘Information Rights and Obligations: the Impact on Party Autonomy and Contractual Fairness’, University of Munster, 21-22 November 2003. In addition, Toni Williams provided helpful comments. Many of these provisions are found in the proposal for a new EU Directive on Consumer Credit (see infra, n. 2) and they exist in a variety of manifestations in national legislation in both Europe and North America. For further analysis of the economic and social dimensions of consumer credit law see Ramsay (1995). See Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Harmonization of the Laws, Regulations and Administrative Provisions of the Member States concerning Credit for Consumers (Brussels, COM (2002) 443 final 2002/0222 (COD) at para. 2.4.) My comments are based on the original draft proposal of the EU Commission. This has been substantially criticized by the European Parliament. See European Parliament, Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, Notice to Members 2/2004.
