ABSTRACT
The chapter presents the state of consumer protection in the face of developing cross-border e-commerce. It presents the main standards of legal protection in the European Union (EU) at the pre-contractual and contractual stages, consumer protection problems specific to the digital environment, and existing methods for cross-border dispute resolution. The proliferation of e-commerce internationally poses a significant challenge to legal systems in ensuring the security of trade for consumers as the most vulnerable participants in commercial transactions. On the one hand, consumers shopping across borders embodies the basic idea of the EU internal market, understood as a market without borders. On the other hand, consumers currently lack an effective system of standards and procedures to ensure effective protection and enforcement of their rights in international transactions. Harmonisation of substantive standards within the EU has increased the convenience of online transactions, but mainly within particular countries. In disputes with foreign EU or non-EU traders, individual consumers lack effective enforcement procedures. International cooperation between consumer protection authorities and the development of AI-based tools for consumer protection offer an opportunity to change this state of affairs.
