The English Model for Preventing Unfair Terms

Abstract

Consumer contracts are characterized by being asymmetrical. Therefore, consumer contracts often contain unfair terms. Consumer Law must prevent or repress unfair terms using different control mechanisms. Faced with the internal requirement for a good control mechanism for unfair terms, comparative law could provide answers. Thus, in a micro comparison context, according to Zwigert and Kötz, if we want to propose a foreign solution, the first question is “has it proved satisfactory in its country of origin?” This question refers to how effectively the chosen country solved the problem. Our study argues that the English way of preventing unfair terms works well for a significant amount of consumer contracts and therefore should be studied by micro comparison if we seek to propose an improvement on this area in our respective internal system.