Contents: Preface; Part 1 Articles 2009: Crisis or future of European consumer law?, Norbert Reich; The status of consumers in EC liberalisation directives, Paul Nihoul; The impact of the European Union on consumer policy in Malta: a mixed blessing?, Paul Edgar Micallef; The limits of competition: reasserting a role for consumer protection and fair trading regulation in competitive markets, Nicola Howell and Therese Wilson; The consumer protection code: regulatory innovation from the Irish financial regulator, Mary Donnelly; Re-regulating unsecured consumer credit in Japan: over-indebted borrowers, the supreme court, and new legislation, Souichirou Kozuka and Luke Nottage; Consumer collective redress in the European Union: the 'Italian case', Cristina PoncibA (2); The future of consumer law in the United States - hello arbitration, bye-bye courts, so-long consumer protection, Richard M. Alderman. Part 2 Current Developments: Unfair Commercial Practices: The unfair commercial practices directive - alternatives in UK law, Alan Barron; Recent amendments to Maltese consumer law - transposition of the unfair commercial practices directive and changes to the regulatory regime, Paul Edgar Micallef. Credit: Secret commissions and overseas purchases: the good news for customers in 2007, James Ross. General: A critical (re)view of the Spanish Act on improvement of consumers protection concerning long term contracts (Act 44/2006, of 29 December), Susana Navas Navarro; France: a new law for 'the development of competition for the benefit of consumers', Alexandre Regniault; EC passenger law running on track - the regulation on rail passengers' rights and obligations, Jens Karsten; Future prospects for 'class actions' in Europe, Andrew Laidlaw.
