The tourism industry is critically important for the economic well-being of South Africa. This realisation elicited a greater focus on the industry, including greater government regulation thereof. Although the concept of a tourist (consumer of tourism services) will not readily conjure up someone in need of protection, tourists are often exposed to exploitation through unfair business practices. Tourists, by definition, are outside their normal places of residence and often strangers to the environment within which they find themselves. For the important tourism industry to achieve its economic potential the protection of the tourist must be paramount. The introduction of the Consumer Protection Act, 2008 in 2010 was heralded as a new dawn for consumers. The CPA provides consumers, including domestic and foreign tourists, with extensive consumer rights. As the CPA is the first comprehensive legislation aimed at consumer protection the impact of the Act is far from known. The CPA caused considerable uncertainty in the tourism industry establishing a clear need to determine its impact on the segments of the industry. This study focuses on the accommodation segment. The aim of the study therefore is to ascertain the impact of selected consumer rights on the accommodation segment of the tourism industry. An overview of the tourism industry reveals that tourists are becoming more experienced, demanding and discerning. The regulation of the industry is explained. Particularly relevant are latest developments in South Africa, particularly the Draft Tourism Bill, 2011 and the National Tourism Sector Strategy. The consumer protection regime applicable prior to the coming into effect of the CPA was characterised more by ad hoc legislative arrangements than any systematic programme of consumer protection. Consumers were reliant on the common law. However, as part of a larger scheme to improve the socio-economic well-being of the people of South Africa, the government introduced a number of statutes including the CPA. The CPA introduced wide-ranging rights for the protection of consumers and mechanisms to provide effective redress. Selected consumer rights are critically analysed to assess the impact of these rights on the accommodation segment. These include the consumer’s right to equality in the market place; the right to privacy; the right to cancel advance bookings; the right to documentation in plain language; the right to quality service; and the right that a supplier having possession of the property of guest must account for such property. Another important aspect relates to the use of exemption provisions. The use of exemption provisions by suppliers is severely curtailed by the CPA. The use of prepaid vouchers, trade coupons and similar promotions, and customer loyalty programmes are also considered and the rights and obligations for consumers and suppliers respectively are elucidated. Many of the rights considered will have a significant impact on accommodation establishments. Elsewhere the impact may not appear to be as significant as the CPA is merely codifying an existing right or remedy. However, codifying the right, providing examples of the conduct prohibited and providing enforcement mechanisms will increase the efficacy of these rights.

Traditional redress mechanisms such as litigation and traditional alternative dispute resolution generally fail to strengthen consumer confidence in e-commerce. Rather they may represent an additional source of uncertainty. In particular litigation fails to offer the certainty the consumer seeks. To date, neither European nor American courts have found reliable criteria for determining Internet jurisdiction and have failed to provide consistency in their decisions. In addition, uncertainty arising from unclear concepts on the enforcement level and the high volume of disputes with low monetary value have led to the development of online ADR providers that allow individuals from across the world to settle disputes. Both online mediation and online arbitration serve consumers as appropriate instruments to enforce their rights arising out of online disputes. They are designed for disputes with small monetary value and are capable of overcoming jurisdictional obstacles. On the enforcement level, online arbitration based on the New York Convention provides the consumer with a powerful tool on global level. Online consumer arbitration can ensure a maximum of enforceability if the consumer arbitration rules of online ADR providers incorporate the requirements of the New York Convention. In addition or instead of online ADR, businesses increasingly rely on other dispute avoidance and dispute settlement instruments in order to promote consumer confidence. Some of those models employed by e-commerce companies succeed in promoting trust, while others do so only to a limited extent. In particular, mandatory credit card chargeback regimes give consumers an effective and quick means of disputing a transaction with a merchant at almost no cost. On the other hand, escrow services seem to be less appropriate for the typical small amount e-commerce transaction mainly since consumers are generally not willing to pay the added costs for the use of the escrow service for the average small amount transaction. Trustmark and seal programs provide the potential to give guidance to the consumer about consumer protection standards of the online seller before any damage is done and offer effective and inexpensive certification, monitoring and enforcement procedures. However, to date trustmark and seal systems have applied these powerful tools only to a limited extent. A proliferation of trustmark and seal programs make it hard for consumers to distinguish between differences in the programs and to assess their quality. Rating and feedback systems provide an immediate and inexpensive source of information to buyers about sellers and a strong incentive for good performance to repeat sellers. These systems are prone to abuse and information gathered through these systems is often unreliable. In my thesis I argue that traditional litigation no longer provides the most appropriate means of dispute settlement in the case of small amount crossborder consumer transactions. Neither do traditional ADR mechanisms provide the most convenient and efficient method of settling online consumer disputes. Online ADR and several other models of redress successfully replace traditional mechanisms since they better meet the challenges of online disputes and live up to recognised consumer protection principles. I argue that online arbitration based on international arbitration law such as the New York Convention presents a particularly viable instrument for the settlement of the average smallamount online consumer disputes. After having sketched the jurisdictional hurdles for the resolution of online disputes I analyse whether both online ADR and other trust-creating models are capable of providing an efficient and fair redress instrument for the consumer. For this purpose, the practises and policies of online dispute resolution providers are mirrored in recognised consumer protection principles and the international legal framework. Likewise the potential and limits of other trust-creating models are explored under the question of to what extent they serve the consumer as a viable instrument to impose her rights. The guiding questions of this evaluation will be if and to what extent these recently evolved institutions meet - according to their policies and practises - the challenges set up by the particularities of online consumer transactions. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

Bibliography: p. 105-107. / The imminent promulgation of the Environment Conservation Act, No. 73 of 1989, which made provision for the devolution of responsibility for environmental matters to the third tier of government authority, was the primary motivation for this research, conducted throughout South Africa between 1988 and 1990. Local authority officials were concerned that they did not have the knowledge, manpower and infrastructural resources to accept this responsibility. This concern was reinforced by the rapid urbanization of predominantly disadvantaged communities for whom little provision had been made. A stratified selection for study purposes of urban areas from the whole of South Africa and all its population groups ensured a reasonable sample of metropolitan regions, regional centres, principle towns and smaller outlying urban areas. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of government authorities, Non-Government and Community Organizations and practitioners, either implementing or interacting with environmentally related legislation at the local level. With the permission of all participants, the interviews were recorded on audio-cassettes and later transcribed by the interviewers using a word processing programme. Out of these transcriptions, approximately 1000 problem-and-solution groupings were identified and classified. The most widely held perceptions of factors constraining the resolution of urban environmental problems at local authority level were subsequently compared to the provisions of the Environment Conservation Act. It was found that these perceptions of factors requiring attention for the resolution of urban environmental problems are strongly linked to the establishment, maintenance and improvement of environments which contribute to a generally acceptable quality of life. This accords with only one of the four explicit provisions of the Environment Conservation Act. There is a widespread perception that until human needs (Maslow, 1968) are either satisfied or at least addressed, and the whole population incorporated into a more equitable legal framework, the successful implementation of environmental conservation in South Africa will be severely impaired. Furthermore, that the South African ' Government's adherence to the political ideology of separate development constitutes an abuse and exploitation of scarce resources. Recommendations are that the human needs of the whole population of South Africa must be addressed and environmentally destructive legislation repealed in order to truly resolve urban environmental problems, that the participation of the public in matters relating to the effective protection and controlled utilization of the environment be required, that administrative, natural and functional boundaries need to be aligned, and that the structure and responsibilities of bureaucratic hierarchies responsible for environmental management in urban areas need to be set out clearly.

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The problem of this study was to measure older and younger consumers' knowledge or awareness of selected consumer rights and legal protections, and their perceptions of and experience with unfair and deceptive business practices. A 34-item instrument was developed and administered by telephone to a random sample of 1,305 consumers nationwide. The data were examined by analysis of frequencies, Chi-square, and analysis of variance. The findings revealed (p<.01) that consumer knowledge was related to the age and marital status of the respondent. Married consumers and consumers aged 25-49 were the most knowledgeable about the eight consumer laws and legal protections. Consumer experiences with unfair and deceptive business practices were related to age, marital status, and gender. Younger, married, and female consumers had experienced three or more of the unfair and deceptive business practices. Married consumers and consumers aged 25-74 are more perceptive than consumers aged 75 and over in correctly identifying a business practice as unfair or illegal. The gender of the respondent does not always influence their perceptions of whether or not a particular business practice is fair. Significant differences existed between the knowledge score means and the age and marital status of the respondent. Significant differences existed between the experience score means and the age, marital status, and gender of the respondent. / Master of Science

by Fung Cheuk-Hing, Wang Suk-Ching Anita. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-89). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vi / LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS --- p.vii / ACKNOWLEDGMENT --- p.viii / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.4 / Privacy Protection Act --- p.4 / A Survey of Privacy in the Workplace --- p.5 / Chapter III. --- PERSONAL DATA (PRIVACY) ORDINANCE --- p.8 / Events that led to the Enactment of the Ordinance --- p.8 / An Overview of the Ordinance --- p.10 / Chapter IV. --- METHODOLOGY --- p.14 / Chapter V. --- RESULTS --- p.17 / Privacy Commissioner's Office (PCO) --- p.17 / The Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (IHRM) --- p.23 / Bank A --- p.26 / Recruitment and Selection --- p.26 / References --- p.27 / Employee Records --- p.28 / Data Relating to Ex-employees --- p.28 / Training and Development --- p.29 / Compensation and Benefits --- p.30 / Data Storage and Security --- p.30 / Data Transfer and Transmission --- p.30 / Appraisal and Potential Assessment --- p.30 / Disciplinary Records --- p.31 / Exit Interview --- p.31 / Others --- p.32 / Bank B --- p.33 / Recruitment and Selection --- p.33 / References --- p.34 / Employee Records --- p.34 / Data Relating to Ex-employees --- p.35 / Training and Development --- p.35 / Compensation and Benefits --- p.35 / Data Storage and Security --- p.35 / Data Transfer and Transmission --- p.36 / Appraisal and Potential Assessment/Disciplinary Records --- p.36 / Exit Interview --- p.36 / Others --- p.36 / Bank C --- p.37 / Recruitment and Selection --- p.38 / References --- p.38 / Employee Records --- p.38 / Data Relating to Ex-employees --- p.39 / Training and Development --- p.39 / Compensation and Benefits --- p.39 / Data Storage and Security --- p.39 / Data Transfer and Transmission --- p.40 / Appraisal and Potential Assessment --- p.40 / Disciplinary Records --- p.40 / Exit Interview --- p.40 / Others --- p.41 / Chapter VI. --- ANALYSIS OF RESULTS --- p.43 / "Overview of Bank A, B and C's Interview Results" --- p.43 / Evaluation on Compliance Level --- p.45 / Recruitment and Selection --- p.46 / References --- p.47 / Employee Records --- p.48 / Data Relating to Ex-employees --- p.48 / Training and Development --- p.49 / Compensation and Benefits --- p.49 / Data Storage and Security --- p.50 / Data Transfer and Transmission --- p.50 / Appraisal and Potential Assessment/Disciplinary Records --- p.50 / Exit Interview --- p.50 / General --- p.50 / Dynamics Between the PCO and Human Resource Practitioners --- p.51 / Dynamics Between the PCO and IHRM --- p.53 / Dynamics Between IHRM and Human Resource Practitioners --- p.53 / Comparison with Linowes' Survey Results --- p.54 / Chapter VII. --- RECOMMENDATIONS --- p.56 / Privacy Commissioner's Office (PCO) --- p.56 / The Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management (IHRM) --- p.57 / "Bank A, B and C" --- p.57 / Chapter VIII. --- LIMITATIONS --- p.59 / IX. CONCLUSIONS --- p.60 / APPENDIX --- p.62 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.87

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.

Within the past 100 years, the protection of archaeological and other cultural resources have fallen in part under federal jurisdiction. The role of federal legislation and regulations, with particular emphasis on the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (ARPA), is evaluated in terms of guidelines, application, and effectiveness. A history of federal legislation is presented, followed by an in-depth review and analysis of ARPA. The relevance and applicability of ARPA and other legislation is reviewed in terms of resource significance, definitions of archaeological material, logistics of law enforcement, and prosecution of violators. A case review is presented and analyzed. The roles of public archaeology and future legislation are discussed as they apply to continued efforts toward preservation of cultural resources.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Johannesburg, 2017 / This research investigates real names, pseudonyms, and anonymity online. From its small beginning as a research tool, the internet has grown radically and been increasingly incorporated into people’s daily lives. Simultaneously, as the internet has grown and changed, so have its uses, and perceptions of the naming practices used on it. Attitudes towards acceptable name use online have changed over time. Social networking sites have had a strong influence on name usage policies. This research examines how these attitudes have changed, and the implications of real names, pseudonyms and anonymity for behaviour on the internet and privacy. The radically disembodied nature of online communication lends itself to disinhibition, which in turn has resulted in online communications’ reputation for trolls and abusers. Contrary to the common assumption that the use of real names offline indicates the legitimacy of using real names online, online and offline communications are radically different. Online communications have very different considerations regarding privacy, identity theft, the digital footprint, and collapsed context, many of which are not present in offline communications. This paper examines naming policies and site structure through two case studies. The first case focuses on News24 and the Daily Maverick, both of which are South African news sites. Due to the need for rational and polite discourse, these implemented real name policies in order to enforce good behaviour amongst their users. In both cases, the real name policies failed. The second case study is that of 4chan, the American image board site. 4chan does not require any login process, and its users are typically anonymous. Despite being notorious for trolls, illegal content, and its image board /b/, the site’s architecture, along with the way that posts are created and then kept alive, mean that the site can be effective at moderating the kinds of content that it deems appropriate for each of its boards. Despite the contrasting nature and purposes of the news sites and 4chan, there are lessons to be learnt from the failure of real name policies, and the architecture and set up of sites which can be used to enforce particular behaviours. Furthermore, despite the ephemeral and shifting nature of 4chan, identity and a sense of belonging remain important to its users, hinting at the importance of a sense of identity to site members and the role of this identity in ensuring that users adhere to the norms. / XL2018