The average consumer standard - an assessment of the challenges of e-commerce

Abstract

With the signing of the Treaty of Rome and the regulation of the single market, the European Union must continue its efforts to modernise and update the legislation governing the free trade area. It is not enough for the single market to exist, but it must be functional, competitive, and at the same time, secure and balanced, in order to support sustainable economic and social development. In this respect, greater attention must be paid to the digital internal market, which operates using new and complex instruments that can deepen the existing imbalance between the trader and the consumer. In the context of this digital asymmetry, the portrait of the average consumer needs to be analysed in relation to these new tools, as this standard generates new legislative directions and influences the way consumer protection policies are applied.