The Regulation of Consumer Markets in France and Germany.

This paper investigates the origins of national consumer protection regulation in France and Germany during the formative period from 1970 to 1985. Consumer protection appeared at the time as an entirely new area of public policy for both countries. Three different models for consumer protection ? information, protection, and negotiation ? set the terms of an intensive political conflict over the appropriate regulatory response. What strategy was eventually adopted depended on the way in which consumer and producer interests were organized in the country. As a result of this conflict, Germany adopted the information strategy of protection, in which consumers use accurate product information to make wise product choices. France adopted the protection strategy, in which state policy and legal norms work to insulate consumers entirely from product-related risk. The paper suggests ways in which these different policies may drive divergent product market strategies in the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]