Ar Lietuvoje užtikrinama elektroninės prekybos vartotojų teisių apsauga?
Junčytė, Kristina |
Sparčiai vystantis informacijos ir ryšių technologijoms nemaža dalis kasdienių veiklų, taip pat ir prekyba, persikėlė į virtualią erdvę. Prekybiniuose santykiuose sutartis paprastai yra sudaroma prisijungimo būdu, todėl vartotojas neturi galimybių derėtis dėl jos sąlygų. Perkant prekes internetu, vartotojas negali net jų apžiūrėti, įvertinti kokybės ir atitikimo keliamiems reikalavimams. Dėl šių priežasčių virtuali erdvė yra terpė, kurioje yra dažni vartotojo teisių pažeidimai. Tokie pažeidimai mažina vartotojų pasitikėjimą elektronine prekyba ir stabdo jos vystymąsi. Kadangi elektroninės komercijos skatinimas yra viena iš prioritetinių ES sričių, Lietuvoje yra būtina užtikrinti elektroninės prekybos vartotojų teisių apsaugą. Lyderiaujanti valstybė elektroninės komercijos srityje yra Jungtinės Amerikos Valstijos. Į šią valstybę turėtų lygiuotis ne viena pasaulio šalis. Dėl šios priežasties Lietuvos situacija darbe lyginama su JAV. Be to, kadangi Lietuva yra ES narė, analizuojama ir ES teisinė bazė. Taigi nagrinėjant ir lyginant elektroninės prekybos vartotojų teisių apsaugos situaciją Lietuvoje, kaip ES narėje, ir JAV, darbe siekiama išsiaiškinti, ar Lietuvoje yra užtikrinta elektroninės prekybos vartotojų teisių apsauga. Išanalizavus mokslinę literatūrą, valstybių ir ES teisės aktus, teismų praktiką bei atlikus situacijos lyginamąją analizę išsiaiškinta, kad bendrai elektroninės prekybos vartotojo teisės Lietuvoje yra užtikrintos. Visgi yra sričių, kuriose, norint efektyviau užtikrinti elektroninės prekybos vartotojų teisių apsaugą, reguliavimas turėtų būti keičiamas. Visų pirma rekomenduotina praplėsti elektroninio parašo naudojimo galimybes, įtvirtinant vartotojų teisę elektroniniu būdu sudaryti ir sutartis, kurioms įstatymo yra reikalaujama notarinė forma. Be to rekomenduotina pakeisti šiuo metu naudojamą elektroninės prekybos vartotojo teisės į privatumą užtikrinimo modelį tokiu būdu, kad jis būtų patrauklesnis verslininkams ir neatgrasytų jų nuo prekybos vykdymo elektroniniu būdu. Galiausiai, kad vartotojui būtų aišku, kurios valstybės teismuose jis gali ginti savo teises, turėtų būti nustatytos aiškesnės taisyklės, nustatančios ginčų, kilusių iš tarpvalstybinių elektroninių sutarčių, teismingumą.
Information and communication technologies are developing very quickly. Such a fast development and especially the appearance of the Internet influenced many casual activities to be performed in virtual space. When Internet was applied for commerce, electronic trade became very important source of revenue in many countries. One of the legal issues Internet has raised is an issue of protection of electronic trade consumers’ rights. Consumer is a weaker party of a contract, because consumer contracts are usually made by the way of accession, where a seller offers contract terms and conditions and a consumer can’t even negotiate about them. Moreover, consumers who enter into an agreement by electronic means are even more vulnerable because they can see their commodities and evaluate their quality, appropriateness only when they have already entered into the agreement. So virtual space is a space where violations of consumer rights are quite usual. Such violations reduce consumers’ confidence in electronic trade and influence consumers not to use it. As the development of electronic market is one of the most important fields of European Union, Lithuania, as it is a member of EU, must secure electronic trade consumers’ rights so that it would develop as quickly as possible. The leading country in electronic market is the United States of America. This country should be taken as an example of good regulation and many other states should follow it. Because of this reason the situation of electronic trade consumers’ protection in Lithuania will be compared to situation of USA. Furthermore, as laws of EU are also binding to Lithuania, the legal framework of EU will also be reviewed. So by comparing the situation of protection of electronic trade consumers’ rights in Lithuania, as a member of EU, and the United States of America, this paper will try to answer a question: are the rights of electronic trade consumer in Lithuania properly secured? While trying to answer this question, these tasks are raised: 1. to find out the reasons why should a special protection be given to consumers, to analyze the definitions of consumer and electronic trade in Lithuania, EU and USA and to compare them; 2. to find out what are the general obligations to the electronic trade sellers in Lithuania and USA and to compare them; 3. to make the analysis of protection of separate electronic trade consumers’ rights. Firstly, to find out if there is secured a consumer right to enter into the electronic agreements (to disclose the topic of electronic signature). Secondly, paper will try to analyze the situation of e-trade consumers’ privacy protection in Lithuania, EU and USA and to compare it. 4. to find out if Lithuania and USA safeguard electronic trade consumers’ right to solve a dispute between consumer and seller in quasi-judicial way: to ascertain if there are institutions which protect consumers rights, have an authority to hear a case and can make a decision which is binding for e-trade seller. 5. to analyze if there are clear rules applied in states to decide the jurisdiction of disputes arising from international electronic contracts. 6. to make conclusions and recommendations. This paper consists of three main chapters, which are divided into smaller sections. The first chapter analyzes the reasons, why a state should violate a principle of freedom of contract and provide an additional protection for a consumer. Also the definitions of consumer and electronic commerce in Lithuania and the United States of America are introduced and compared in the first chapter. Finally, the first chapter provides the general obligations for internet salesmen in both states and compares them. The second chapter is intended for analysis of separate electronic trade consumers’ rights protection. The first right analyzed in paper is a right to enter into the agreement by electronic means. This right is very important, because electronic trade is impossible without it. This right in the paper is represented through an issue of electronic signature regulation, because it’s inseparable part of this right. The second section of second chapter analyses consumers’ right to privacy. It was found out, that the USA and Lithuania regulate this question in two completely different ways: the USA uses self-regulation method while Lithuania and all the other EU countries use regulative approach. Neither of these methods is ideal for perfect protection of consumers’ rights, so the paper offers a mixed method. Finally, the last chapter analyses the ways of solving a dispute between e-trade consumer and businessmen. Firstly the quasi-judicial institutions and their rights in consumers’ rights advocating are explored. Secondly, an issue of jurisdiction of international electronic trade contract dispute is explained. In order to better understand the application of existing rules, a hypothetical situation of international e-trade contract dispute jurisdiction selection is illustrated. This paper ends in conclusions and recommendations, which states that Lithuania protects the rights of electronic commerce consumers sufficiently, but in order the protection would be perfect, some alterations of laws are recommended. First of all, a law regulating e-signature should give an opportunity to make contracts, which are required to be notarized, by electronic means as it is done in the USA. Also, as it is mentioned above, the method of regulating privacy protection should be changed so that it would not threaten business so much. Finally, a rule of finding out a jurisdiction of a case, which is applied in the USA, should be legitimated so that consumers could more easily decide where they can sue.