Nanoproducts and Legal Aspects of Consumer Protections: An Evaluation

Abstract

Nanomaterials are ubiquitous in nature since time immemorial. The inhabitants of some ancient societies knew the techniques to use some nanomaterials in a selected manner, though the idea of exploitation of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in a systematic and controlled manner is relatively new, started only four decades ago with the invention of scanning tunneling microscope. Six years after the official inauguration of nanotechnologies in the United States of America (USA) through the National Nanotechnology Initiative in 2000, the researchers found nanotechnologies in a stage where ICTs were in the 1960s and biotechnology were in the 1980s. This analogy was made to indicate the prospective-wide use of nanomaterials in both industrial and consumer products in the future. After almost two decades of the formal beginning, the world, more specifically the developed countries, is in a stage when supermarket shelves can be located to have full of thousands of consumer products containing ENMs due to their unprecedented potentials over traditional materials. Though the long-term behavior of different ENMs in different media of the environment and human health is yet to be conclusively proved, authoritative scientific and policy reports predicted that some nanomaterials may harm the environment and human health, albeit the numbers of permitted products have been growing in the market. This can be an indication that these products can safely be designed to suit the purpose. There are already adequately regulated sectors using the experience of which these can be managed properly as well within a proper regulatory framework. While the consumers have limited bargaining powers and voice in the regulatory decision-making, the consumers are an important decisive factor as the ultimate business success of these products relies on the acceptance and recognition by the consumers. Therefore, the manufacturers must consider the issue of consumer protection seriously in a situation even though the international consumer protection-related legal movement started with the adoption of the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection, 1985 (finally revised in 2015). To ensure safe, sustainable, and responsible development of nanotechnologies, numerous regulatory initiatives or tools, either product based or process based, have been adopted in different developed countries. Some initiatives have also been taken to make the consumers aware so that they understand different relevant issues which will ultimately assist them in understanding the technology better and welcoming the products which may help in the ultimate success of nanotechnologies in society. Following the library-based research methodology, this chapter surveys and provides a preliminary overview of the existing international, regional, and municipal legal developments on consumer protection and evaluates these in the context of nanoproducts. Some of the challenges faced by the regulators and consumers and some innovative initiatives adopted around the world in this regard are also examined and shared with the aim that the newcomers and stakeholders will get some insights in settling their future policy directions.