Search

The present paper presents one of the national approaches used to address consumer problems, i.e. protection model. Developed in countries like the United States of America or France, this model aims to protect consumer rights against the negative consequences of production activity.

The reality of daily life gives us sufficient examples of situations in which individual decisions within free market do not automatically and warranted lead to a global economic optimum. Such a situation is denominated as “market failure”, both understood as “the failure of a more or less idealized system of price-market institutions to sustain “desirable” activities or to stop “undesirable” activities” [1], but also as any performance of the market which is considered less better than the best performance possible [2]. Specialized economic literature generally distinguishes four categories of market failures, namely: externalities, public goods, natural monopoly and information asymmetries. The present paper will focused on information asymmetries both from the point of view of generating causes and the effects involved on the consumers, and from the point of view of the possible solutions for rectifying them.

Whether it is about an imbalance of economic, informational, judicial nature or at the level of the representation of interests, the cleavages which intervene within the market in the relations between producer/trader and consumer unequivocally call for the intervention in favor of the latter. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is the argumentation of the importance of indirect consumer protection as an instrument for assuring his sovereignty within market economy.

The existence of “sovereign consumer”, appealed by the adherents of free market cult, is jeopardized, within the context of economic reality, by the manifestation of some market failures. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is the argumentation of the importance of direct consumer protection as an instrument for assuring his sovereignty within market economy.

The present paper underlines that the internal functioning logic of the free market, approached from the perspective of the interests and motivations of the participants in economic activity, places even the rational consumer in an objectively unbalanced relation in favor of the producer/trader, although the first, with his needs and necessities, should be the origin and, at the same time, the final point of the production activity.

Whether they operate in a real or simulated business environment, the success of economic activity undertaken by producers/traders depends on understanding the behavior of current and potential customers, by studying the mechanism by which they take consumer decisions under the influence of internal and external factors whose divergence or convergence may affect the quality of their satisfaction. Orthodox vision on the consumer looked upon as a rational economic agent, often criticized for its limits, has been repeatedly improved, demonstrating the attraction force induced by its validity in the individuals’ daily life.

This paper aims to demonstrate that, in fact, building a coherent national system of consumer protection in Romanian domestic market was achieved mainly due to the process of accession to the European Union, to harmonize its system with that prevailing in Europe, and especially in context of the conditions for turning the Romanian economy into a functioning market economy, able to cope with competitive pressures within the European single market. Romania is just at the beginning in terms of consumer protection, and therefore, it is natural that there will not be possible to do in a short time what in the old European Union Member States has naturally been done in decades, as a result of the action of market economy objective laws.

Whether they operate in real or simulated business environment, the success of economic activity undertaken by producers/traders depends on understanding the behavior of current and potential customers, by studying the mechanism by which they take consumer decisions under the influence of internal and external factors whose divergence or convergence may affect the quality of their satisfaction. The heterodox theoretical systems of consumer behavior born out of the desideratum of emphasizing the limits of traditional approach and of offering alternative considerations, especially by embracing the belief on manifestation of an irrational behavior of the consumer. From this perspective, the consumer, especially in modern society, is exposed to challenges in front of which, due to the production rhythm and their complexity, he becomes vulnerable, and finding a solution for assuring his proper protection is imposed.

Although there are a variety of directives and regulations which fall within the field of EU consumer policy dealing with a rather diffuse range of consumer issues, it is nevertheless possible to identify certain key principles, or techniques, which are common to many of these measures. Principles analyzed in the present paper facilitate the legislative harmonization in this field at European level in order to encourage consumers to action in the EU internal market.

Economic reality of everyday life places the consumer in an objectively unbalanced report in favor of the producer/trader, even if the first, with his needs, should be both the origin and the final point of production activity. In this context, the present paper contains an analysis of the reasons behind the intervention in the marketplace in favor of consumers. Each one with its advantages and its limitations, these reasons have allowed the development of comprehensive national systems for consumer protection.

The present paper debates the liberal apology of free market operation that assigns to the rational consumer absolute sovereignty on the producer, the economic success of the latter being conditioned by the best possible satisfaction of “master’s” interests – the consumer.