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2 J. Int'l Com. L. & Tech. 1 (2007)

handle is hein.journals/jcolate2 and id is 1 raw text is: Journal of International Commercial Law and Technology Vo.2, Issue 1 (2007) Consumer Protection in E-commerce Transactions: a First Comparison between European Law and Islamic Law* Salvatore Mancuso' University of Macau 1. INTRODUCTION The Internet, born and first used as means to exchange knowledge and information between institutions and research centres, or between cultural and research centres, has become also a major instrument for business activities through the exchange of tangible and intangible assets and services. Therefore we are witnessing a progressive placement side by side of a virtual market and the traditional market. Figures are significant: according to a rough estimate, Startingfrom basically zero in 1995, total (global) electronic commerce is estimated at some $26 billion for 1997; it is predicted to reach $330 billion in 2001-02 and $1 trillion in 2003-052. In the European Union, similar estimates are in line with such predicted growth calculating an on-line revenue from E 3.5 billion in 1999 to about €45 billion in 20023. While at the beginning around 85% of the e-commerce transactions were business to business, the ratio is rapidly changing in favour of the business to consumer transactions, as purchasing goods and services on-line can benefit consumers through a wider choice and lower prices, while suppliers, and in particular small and medium-sized businesses, can have access to greater 4 market opportunities relatively cheaply . Different product sectors earned great success in electronic distribution. The success of the electronic transactions using internet is based on the opportunity for the customer to approach a wide range of offer without the constraint of business hours, the ease of comparing simultaneously different sites which offer identical or interchangeable services, and also the opportunity to survey and find adequate information to make a satisfactory choice without direct relations with sales representatives. The different sectors where the electronic transaction has been developed have elaborated a wide operational area as a result of the possibilities given by the use of internet. The legal implications in the various sectors of electronic transactions are characterized by the peculiarities of the use of e-commerce instruments from one side, and the object of the legal transaction performed through the internet. The conclusion of contracts through internet has represented a real innovation in the area of the traditional law contract. The main issue has been considered the lack of the instruments traditionally used to express the contractual will. Even though the electronic will lacks verbal or para-linguistic exteriorization, it represents a language5 different from the traditional one but suitable to validly express the declarer's intention in legal form. Therefore, either in the real or in the virtual world, the process for the conclusion of a contract is closed by the meeting of proposal and acceptance, but the peculiarity of the latter exists in the fact that the parties are not present in the same place but are in locations often extremely different, the only instrument of contact being the use of the internet. The peculiarities of these kinds of agreements and the difference in terms of contractual strength between the two parties of the contract has encouraged legal scholars to consider the consumer protection issues as particularly relevant in this area of activity. * A version of this paper was published in Complex 3/06 - Sylvia M. Kierkegaard (ed.): Legal, privacy and security issues in information technology I Professor of Comparative Law, University of Macau; Attorney at Milan Bar 2 OECD, The Economic and Social Impact of Electronic Commerce: Preliminary Findings and Research Agenda, Report prepared by the Secretary-General for the Ottawa Ministerial Conference, A Borderless World: Realising the Potential for Global Electronic Commerce (OECD, 1998). 3 Boston Consulting Group, The Race for Online Riches -E-retailing in Europe (Boston Consulting Group, 1999). 4 G. PEARCE and N. PLATTEN, Promoting the Information Society: The EU Directive on Electronic Commerce, in (2000) 6 European Law Journal, n. 4, pp. 363-378. ' On the use of different forms to express the contractual will see N. IRTI, Scambi senza accordo, in (1998) Riv. Trim. Dir. Proc. Civ., p. 350; more in general on the different form of expression of legal rules see R. SACCO, Mute law in (1995) 43 Am. J. Comp. Law, p. 455.

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