Yes / In the past decade, E-commerce has developed and plays a vital role in our daily lives. However, fraud in E-commerce has increasingly become more prevalent and causes huge monetary loss, especially to E-consumers which usually results in them being unable to get what they have paid for. Fraudsters use various modus operandi to trick E-consumers such as displaying cheap goods via online platforms to induce them to pay for the goods. Despite considerable concerns about E-commerce fraud in Malaysia, the legislative sanction is still inadequate due to the deficiency of the existing legal framework. This paper examines the nature of E-commerce fraud, understand the modus operandi, and look into the legal protection afforded to E-consumers in Malaysia. It employs doctrinal content analysis and secondary data from the Malaysian Penal Code and the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998, academic journals, books, news articles and online databases. The authors contend that the lack of legal protection for E-consumers is due to the insufficiency of the law and the lack of awareness of the gravity of the such crime. Effective governance of fraud in E-commerce is imperative to facilitate prosecution and investigation and holistic protection for the victims of cyber fraud.

The purposes of this study were to identify the relationship between the provision of consumer information programs and satisfaction with food marketing services and to assess the benefits of a program as they affect both consumer satisfaction and retail food store profits. A conceptual model which proposed a positive relationship between the provision of a consumer information program and increased product purchasing, increased satisfaction with the product, and increased satisfaction with the foodstore was developed for the study. The model was operationalized through the use of three indicators to measure each of the four constructs. A field test of the model was conducted at a warehouse foodstore in central Connecticut where an in-store information program had been implemented one year prior to this study. The program, which focused on meats, provided three modes of presentation. Response to the program was measured by interviewing 277 shoppers during October and November, 1984. Respondents were asked about their use of the information presented, attitude toward the program, and perception of its usefulness. The data collection instrument developed for this study was a two part questionnaire. The first part was self administered. Respondents were dueried on satisfaction with the meat department and with the store. Twenty-one attitude, interest, opinion items related to food shopping and meal preparation were included in this section. The second part was an interview questionnaire which was utilized to ‘ obtain information on shoppers response to the information program, shopping habits, and demographic characteristics. The sample was found to be representative of warehouse foodstore shoppers. The average household size was four persons, and the average food budget was $100.00 per week. Twenty-nine percent spent less than 50% of their meat budget at the store, but only 11% purchased less than 50% of their groceries (excluding meat) at this store. Shoppers who responded positively toward the information program purchased more meat, and were more satisfied with the meat department and with the store. The conceptual model was able to explain positive response as measured by use, attitude, and perception of usefulness of the program in terms of these outcomes. The model was unable to explain negative response to the program. Further analyses of the data resulted in the addition of two antecedent variables to the model. Those who were not predisposed to information seeking and had never enrolled in a consumer education course were likely to be nonusers of the information program. / Ph. D.

Univ., Diss.--Bayreuth, 2006. / Literaturverz. S. [213] - 223.

Due to length and time constraints, this dissertation will briefly examine and provide an overview of the current method that courts have adopted in bringing a class action in Southern Africa and internationally. Specific focus will be on the Unites States of America, Australia and the Canadian province of Ontario. Challenges of bringing a class action will also be discussed, with a view of ascertaining the most appropriate or well-suited method of bringing a class action under the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008. The main issue that will be analysed will be the certification process. The key question to be answered is which approach or procedure, in dealing with the certification requirements under various jurisdictions, should South Africa adopt or incorporate into, class action procedure legislation? In chapter one I will introduce the concept of a class action as it is a relatively new concept found in South African consumer legislation. Different definitions of a class action will be discussed in context of particular statutes. I will define and highlight the purposes of a class action in South Africa and show why there is firstly, a need for such a procedure and secondly why there is a need for such procedure to be codified into legislation. In chapter two I will discuss certain important aspects of class actions. The purpose of this is to identify the main features of a class action. Ultimately, the purpose will be to discuss whether or not these features should be included in South African class actions. Chapter three will commence with the comparative perspective portion of this paper. The legislation adopted by the United States, will be discussed in chapter three followed by a discussion of the Ontario legislation in chapter four and the Australian legislation in chapter 5. The approaches that these jurisdictions have taken in respect of a class action procedure serve as a basis upon which a class action procedure for South Africa will be recommended. Chapter six will provide conclusions that have been drawn through analysis of the foreign jurisdictions’ class action procedures which will reflect the best and worst elements of a class action procedure. This is significant in determining what type of class action procedure would be best suited to South Africa. Chapter seven will highlight the current South African approach to class actions through an examination of case law and a Report by the South African Law Commission. This chapter will also analyse the short-comings in the South African approach through a critique of case law. In chapter eight of this paper I will propose an approach that South Africa should adopt with regard to a class action procedure that is best suited to South Africa’s social climate. Finally, I will conclude with a summation of the arguments presented in this paper in chapter nine. / Thesis (LL.M)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Univ., Diss.--Köln, 2005. / Literaturverz. S. XXV - LIV.

The franchising business model is an attractive option for both franchisors and franchisees. Franchisors grant the rights to use their intellectual property and business system to franchisees for a fee. Franchisees buy into the tried-and-tested business system, receive ongoing training and support and operate under an established trade mark or trade name. Fundamental characteristics of the franchise relationship include: the contractual nature thereof, the use of the franchisor‘s intellectual property by the franchisee, operating the franchise outlet according to the franchisor‘s business system, providing training and support to the franchisee, and paying for the use of the franchisor‘s intellectual property and business system. These characteristics have resulted in inherent tensions between franchisors and franchisees, which arise by virtue of, inter alia, the control exercised by the franchisor over the use of its intellectual property, franchisor opportunism, poor franchisee selection, franchisee free-riding, inadequate training and support, or the sunk investments made by the franchisee. The franchisor and franchisee generally use a franchise agreement to regulate their relationship. However, the franchise agreement itself can also lead to conflict between the parties, such as that arising from poor drafted clauses relating to territorial rights, renewal, payment, termination, restraint of trade, or confidentiality. The franchise agreement is typically drafted in the standard-form, resulting in franchisees faced with unequal bargaining power. The common law of contract is based on principles of freedom of contract and sanctity of contract and is, therefore, limited in its ability to resolve the tensions between the parties. Various models for regulating the franchising industry can be adopted, for example, self-regulation, statutory regulation, or co-regulation. Australia and Canada have adopted the statutory model by enacting franchise-specific legislation and New Zealand has followed the self-regulation model with no legislation regulating its franchising industry. South Africa did not formally regulate the franchise relationship through legislation until the enactment of its consumer protection legislation, the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (CPA), which includes a franchisee within the definition of consumer. This entails that all franchisees enjoy the protection of the CPA and all franchise agreements must comply with the provisions of the CPA. The South African economy is unique in that it is burdened by the social ills of its discriminatory past, such as high levels of unemployment, illiteracy and inequality. The country is faced with a slow growing economy with little development and promotion of entrepreneurship among small businesses. Despite the burdensome economy within which the franchising industry is required to operate, the industry‘s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country has remained stable. The South African government has identified the franchising industry as an opportunity for job creation, economic empowerment and promotion of entrepreneurship. The aim of the study is to ascertain whether the CPA is the correct legislative vehicle to regulate the franchise relationship, while enhancing the growth and development of the franchising industry. This thesis concludes that the introduction of fundamental consumer rights and rights of redress for franchisees through the provisions of the CPA has contributed to, or assisted in, the removal of the tensions inherent in the franchise relationship. In particular, the CPA has adequately addressed the lack of formal regulation of the franchise relationship through its disclosure requirements and its regulations. The thesis also proposes amendments to some of the CPA regulations, which will further enhance the disclosure requirements, and aid in curtailing the conflict caused by the terms of the franchise agreement. The thesis further proposes that the application of the CPA to franchise agreements should be limited to small, inexperienced or unsophisticated franchisees that are in need of the protection. An essential premise is that the CPA aims to protect ordinary consumers, including juristic persons, in day-to-day transactions (up to the threshold amount), to avoid suppliers taking advantage of them. Larger, more sophisticated or experienced franchisees, with stronger bargaining power and access to legal advice, do not necessarily require the protection of the CPA. The criteria relating to the size of class of micro-, very small and small enterprises, but not medium enterprises, within the different sectors or sub-sectors in terms of the National Small Enterprises Act, 102 of 1996, should be considered and used as a guide to determine whether the CPA applies to a franchise agreement. The development, growth and success of the franchising industry depends on the education of prospective franchisees wanting to adopt the franchising business model and invest in the industry. The CPA does not recognise or promote the roles of the various stakeholders (franchisors, franchisees and the government) with regard to the provision of education, training, ongoing support and assistance to prospective franchisees. This thesis proposes that mechanisms to enhance the education of prospective franchisees should be promoted, such as tandem franchising, obtaining advice undertakings from prospective franchisees before concluding franchise agreements, and increasing the role of the Consumer Commission in providing franchising education.

Businesses communicate a wide variety of messages to diverse audiences using a number of different communication types and channels daily. For example, business communication includes business reports, documents (booklets, leaflets, and official communiqués), notices, agreements, web copy and advertisements that are produced continually to address a variety of business communication needs for a variety of audiences. Although written business communication has a significant impact on customer satisfaction and consumer attitude which, in turn, affects consumer behaviour positively or negatively, there is a lack of research investigating the knowledge and application of plain language in business communication. Many studies were found to be related to communication and language, however, studies about plain language use were less prevalent. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the awareness of the plain language regulations stipulated in the South African Consumer Protection Act (CPA) 68 of 2008 (2009). The application of these plain language principles within businesses in the Port Elizabeth Metropole, with specific reference to its use in written business communication was also investigated. The study also aimed to identify plain language best practices and constraints resulting from plain language application or non-application within the selected organisations. The research focused attention on the impact of business communication on customer satisfaction, consumer attitude and, ultimately, consumer behaviour as well as the need for plain language use in written business communication practices to ensure effective and fair (ethical) communication. A comprehensive literature review was conducted on communication, communication theory and consumer behaviour, as well as on plain language principles which might add to the effectiveness of organisations’ written business communication, to provide a theoretical foundation for the study. The study’s research methodology was approached from a phenomenological (descriptive and interpretive), and somewhat positivistic perspective, utilising qualitative and limited quantitative measures to obtain data. For this reason, three managers from three respective organisations within the Port Elizabeth Metropole were interviewed and asked to complete a rating-scale survey to obtain insight on the written business communication practices of these organisations. A content analysis of documents supplied by the participating organisations were also reviewed to provide commentary on the plain language application in each organisation. Furthermore, Section 2 of the South African CPA 68 of 2008 (2009) was also reviewed to measure and comment on the application of plain language in these organisations. Based on the data analysis, it was evident that organisations in the Port Elizabeth Metropole were aware of plain language and the plain language regulations stipulated in the South African CPA 68 of 2008 (2009), but that they were not certain what the regulations entailed exactly. Furthermore, plain language principles were applied in the participating organisations, however, complications and areas for possible improvement were identified in the data. From the study’s findings, various recommendations were made that could assist the organisations to improve their organisations’ plain language application. These recommendations included, for example, appointing plain language champions to monitor plain language application in the organisation, as well as assessing language competence of staff and training them to improve their language competencies. Recommendations for future research suggested that future studies needed to include a larger research sample, a more diverse sample population to include consumers and a broader industrial demographic. In addition, future studies could attempt to investigate communication barriers that inhibit or challenge comprehension in consumer communication.

The main purpose of this thesis is the comparison of consumer protection legislation in the Czech republic, United States of America and Croatia and the comparison of selected legal questions. After the introduction to the general issues related to consumer protection, namely the basic concepts, the development of consumer protection law in the world and the reasons of protection of consumer, the work deals with legal sources of current czech, american and croatian consumer protection law. Actual comparisons of personally selected legal questions is creating the core of the thesis. We are comparing legal definitions of basic subjects of consumer protection law, warranty and products liability as described in laws of each country.

The thesis examines the enforcement of consumer rights in South Africa, and is set against the backdrop of the underlying principles and theories on the enforcement of consumer protection law. It then analyses the various forms of consumer protection law enforcement mechanisms that were in place prior to the implementation of the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008, and sets out why there was a need for the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act. The thesis then critically discusses the consumer protection law enforcement mechanisms introduced and/or catered for by the Consumer Protection Act. The in-depth comparative analysis against the consumer protection law enforcement dispensations in both India and the United Kingdom culminates in a critical analysis of the successes and shortcomings of consumer protection law enforcement regime in present-day South Africa; as well as recommendations (in the form of legislative amendments and practical solutions) on how the South African consumer protection enforcement framework can be improved in order to facilitate the realisation of consumer rights. / Mercantile Law / LL. D.

Social regulation, as applied specifically to the telecommunications sector, is a new phenomenon in most countries. It was only in the 1960s, with the establishment of regulatory agencies, that social regulation became important. The regulators are mandated by their country’s legislative and regulatory frameworks to meet social objectives. This study examined the extent to which ICASA protects consumers as it is mandated to do by the Electronic Communications Act 36 of 2005. The study found that ICASA has adopted mechanisms of protecting consumers, namely by conducting awareness campaigns, road shows and workshops in all the nine provinces of South Africa in order to educate and inform consumers about the procedures of lodging complaints and to make them aware of their rights. However, despite ICASA’s endeavours to ensure consumer protection, most consumers are neither aware of their rights and how to efficiently exercise them nor the procedures of lodging complaints. ICASA protects consumers to a reasonable extent but it can do more when the enduser and subscriber service charter regulations are finalised. / Communication Science / M. A. (International Communication)