Gredicc EXPERIENCE in the PROMOTION of RESEARCH

September 2012

Gredicc EXPERIENCE IN THE PROMOTION OF RESEARCH

IN CONSUMER LAW

Contribution to the Workshop September 30, 2012, Toronto.

GREDICC

Established in March 2004 within the Department of Law of the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), the GREDDIC is a center of research and training on matters related to the promotion and protection of consumer interests. It favors an approachleaning largely on international law and comparative law. The GREDDIC promotes a social view of consumer protection policies that contributes to the implementation of fundamental consumer rights, as recognized by the Resolution of the UN General Assembly adopted in 1985 and revised in 1999.

In 2009, GREDICC was recognized as accredited research laboratory of the Faculty of Political Science and Law, UQAM. He was also admitted as a regular member of the Institute of International Studies in Montreal.

gredicc Objectives

GREDICC has established as main objectives:

To define and promote legal instruments which will bring assurance of a high level of protection to consumers.

To contribute to improvement of the quality of life and the environment, to the definition of sustainable production and consumption patterns, correcting imbalances and fractures arising from the globalization of markets, the fight against social exclusion and protecting vulnerable populations.

To support the convergence of national laws on consumer protection through the use of comparative law, the rules of private international law and the harmonization of national protection measures.

To promote the emergence and development of a regional and international consumer law: the impact of regionalization and globalization of markets on the tools of consumer protection, the status of the policy of consumer protection in bilateral, regional and international free trade, and the analysis of international sources of consumer protection issues that remain little studied to date.

gredicc Activities

Since its creation, the Group has several activities: research and publications, organizing seminars and conferences, organizing a Summer School onnational, international and compared consumer law, creation of a documentation center, consolidation and coordination of a network of researchers and experts from various universities in Canada and abroad, services to society and technical assistance to governments, international institutions and community groups.

Research

GREDDIC current research focuses on the following topics:

(i)The regional integration of consumer protection policy in the Americas (NAFTA, Mercosur, Caricom, Organization of American States, etc..) And Europe (European Union)

(ii)The status and autonomy of consumer law in the areas of law,

(iii)Reform of Quebec’s consumer protection law in light of comparative law,

(iv)Legal forms to represent consumers collective interests,

(v)Commercial advertising aimed at children,

(vi)The general safety of products intended for the consumer, particularly as a result of new production methods (genetic engineering, nanotechnology)

(vii)Legal instruments for a policy of sustainable production and consumption.

(viii)Environmental health and its impact on the safety of consumers.

Education & Training

(i)Course on consumers law as part of the program of Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of International Relations and International Law and the LL.M. from UQAM.

(ii)Supervision of work of Masters and doctoral theses in law.

(iii)In June-July 2009, Gredicc organized for the first time a summer school in consumer law which has achieved considerable success, with over one hundred participants from 15 countries from various sectors (students, judges, lawyers, leaders of consumer organizations, representatives of public institutions with consumer protection in their skills). A second edition of this School took place in July 2011 with the same success.

Publications

Les publications les plus récentes du GREDICC sont les suivantes:

MANIET F., Nanotechnologies et produits de consommation. Quels risques? Quels encadrements?, Cowansville, Editions Yvon Blais, 2012, 296 p.

CONWAY É., La protection du consommateur à l’épreuve de l’Organisation mondiale du commerce, Cowansville, Éditions Yvon Blais, 2012, 252 pages.

GALINDOde Fonseca P., Bourgoignie Th., Code du consommateur brésilien v. Loi sur la protection du consommateur du Québec, Niteroi, 2011, 200 p.

BOURGOIGNIE, Th., LAFOND, P.-C, rouillard L., Jalons pour une codification du droit de la consommation au Québec, février 2010, 308 pages.

LAFOND, P.-C. (dir.), L’accès des consommateurs à la justice, Cowansville, Éditions Yvon Blais, 2010, 240 pages.

BOURGOIGNIE, Th. (dir.), L’intégration économique régionale et la protection du consommateur/Regional Economic Integration and Consumer protection/La integration economica regional y la proteccion del consumidor, Cowansville, Éditions Yvon Blais, 2009, 680 pages.

BOURGOIGNIE Th., ST-PIERRE J., « Integracion regional y la proteccion del consumidor en las Americas y en Europa », dans Tomillo Urbina, Jorge, dir., El futuro de la proteccion juridica de los consumidores, Madrid, Thomson, 2008, 483-536.

VÉZINA N., MANIET F., « La sécurité du consommateur au Québec…deux solitudes : mesures préventives et sanctions civiles des atteintes à la sécurité », (2008) 49 Les Cahiers de Droit 57-95.

Present and past experience with the formation of a consumer’s law research network

Previous to their arrival in Canada in 2004, Thierry Bourgoignie and Françoise Maniet taught and researched at the University of Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique), where they directed a major research center on European consumer’s law, the Centre de droit de la consommation. The formation of a dynamic network between experts, who could promote the center’s research as well as contribute to political decision made within it, promtly became the center’s main objective. In Europe, all of the following initiatives contributed to the developement of an organized and serious research community.

:

The establishment of the European Consumer Law Group or ECLG: The ELCG is an informal group who ran for more than fifteen years within the European Union in the 80s and 90s. It was composed by one academic and one person in charge of the consumers’ organization per each country member of the Union. The group would meet once every six months for two days in Brussels: on the first day, the discussion would revolve around the main themes brought to the agenda of the European Commission; on the second day, the members would exchange information on the recent developments in their respective countries. The expressed opinions and written reports of the ECLG have all been published, in the form of either books issued by the Center for Consumer Law, either contributions to the Journal for Consumer Policy.Group meetings were funded by the European Commission which provided the reimbursement of travel expenses for two participants per country, the cost of renting the meeting room and the cost of simultaneous translation.

The elaboration of a journal specialized in consumer law: the European Consumer Law Journal/ Révue Européenne de Droit de la Consommation, managed by a group representing all EU countries and fed by legal doctrine as well as by lawyers working within consumer organizations.

The organization of a École d’été en droit de la consommation: between 1990 and 2000. This school took place every year at Louvain-la-Neuve, gathering close to fifty participants each time.

The creation, in 1995, of the Association Internationale de Droit de la Consommation ou International Consumer Law Association, by a group of researchers assembling Mario Frota (University of Coimbra, Portugal), Thierry Bourgoignie (University of Louvain, Belgium), Jean Calais-Auloy (University of Montpellier, France) and Antonio Benjamin (Brasilia, Brazil). The AIDC shall host its fourteenth global congress in July 2013 in Sydney (Australia).

The same concernregarding a network explains the contacts made by the Gredicc in Quebec and abroad. These contacts have the following aims:

-Consolidate the exchanges between researchers

-Contribute to a comparative analysis of legislative and institutional solutions in place

-Contribute to the reconciliation of national/provincial dispositions on the consumer’s protection

-Strengthen the technical, juridical and institutional capacities of local and regional actors on consumer’s protection;

-Encourage the North-South and South-South partnerships;

-Promote the sharing of information, knowledge practices and experiences;

-Allow a better regional and cross-border cooperation on the consumer’s protection

Professors from the following establishments have collaborated or contribute regularly to the activities of the GREDICC: University of Indiana (Indianapolis, United States), York University, Osgoode Law School (Toronto Canada), University of Nantes (France), Fluminense Federal University (Rio de Janerio, Brazil), Rio Grande do Sul Federal University (Porto Alegre, Brazil) University of Brasilia (Brazil), University of Cantabria (Santander, Spain), McGill University (Montreal, Canada), University of Montreal (Quebec, Canada), Laval University (Quebec, Canada), University of Sherbrook (Quebec, Canada), Brunel University (United Kingdom), University of Savoie in Chamberry (France).

Some of thesecollaborationsare subject to institutional agreements.Cooperation agreementswere signedwiththe Faculty of Lawof the University ofNantes, as well as with Brazilian academic and governmental institutions, like Federal Fluminense University, Brazilian Justice federal Ministere, and the Fundação de Proteção e Defesa do Consumidor (PROCON) of São Paulo.A cooperation agreements was also signed with the ChairofEuro-Americanlegal protection of consumers, based at the University ofCantabria,Santander, Spain.

Close working contacts were established with several regional structures,

a) Institutions of the European Union,

b) the Secretariat of the Common Market of the Basin Community (CARICOM) - technical assistance for the preparation of a model law on consumer protection for Caribbean countries, studies have led to the establishment of the Caribbean CARREX or Rapid Exchange of Information System –

c) The Committee on consumer Protection MERCOSUR

d) the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States - draft Inter-American Convention on the law applicable to consumer contracts, establishment of a network of inter exchange of information on dangerous products.

The Gredicc is an associate member of the ChairofEuro-Americanlegal protection of consumers, based at the University ofCantabria,Santander, Spain. This Chair has the following universities as other associate members: Universidad de San Carlos (Guatemala), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Mexico), Universidad de Guadalajara (Mexico), Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Universidad La Havana (Cuba), Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina), Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Peru), Universidad de Chile (Chile), Universidade Federal Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Universidad de Oviedo (Spain), Université de Savoie (France), University of Quebec in Montreal (Canada), University of Houston (United States).

Future Initiatives

GREDICC is convinced that the existence of a network of researchers in consumer law will encourage research in this field in Canada, confirm the autonomy and specificity of this law in the legal system, to encourage greater consideration of consumer interests in the policy-making process and to strengthen the consumer protection movement as a whole.

A threefold concern should guide future initiatives:

• Extend the network to the other provinces of Canada and establish a Canadian interprovincial network. It is clear that exchanges across Canada are currently scarce. They are neither insured by formal channels (academic conferences, journals) nor by informally ones (exchange networks).
• Extend the network to researchers in other disciplines than law and thus confirm the need to take into account considerations regarding the protection of consumer interests in other fields of research and policy-making.
• Consolidate the emergent network beyond the stage of informal and unstructured contacts by providing it financial and structural support which facilitates the organization and the development of joint activities.

The workshop panel today should consider how to meet this threefold challenge.

Several possibilities are suggested:

Implementation of tools or places of research in universities: ensuring continuity and succession of research in this field requires to involve students and convince them to specialize in this field of research: setting up research laboratories, creation of a multidisciplinary Masters in Consumers Law, development of summer schools, etc..

Increase funding for academic research use by large research funds or other sources, including the Bureau de la Consommation d’Ottawa.

Establishment of a Canadian Consumer Law Group to bring together researchers in politics and consumer law in each Canadian province (1 to 2 per province) and representatives of the Office of Consumer Affairs so the group will meet every six months in a different university to discuss developments at the federal and provincial levels and to discuss common issues.

Creation of a Consumers Law documentation database: census monographs, anthologies, journal articles (peer-reviewed or not), official reports, research reports, dissertations and theses.

Funding for research in comparative law on consumers protection in the Canadian provinces: such a systematic and comparative analysis of the general laws of consumer protection in the various provinces would be the essential starting point for discussion and joint work between researchers from different universities.

Develop a dissemination tool:

• Create a journal for policy and consumer rights, biannual and with reading committee
• Produce an electronic newsletter on recent developments in Canada

Provide a forum: organization, every year or every two years, a meeting on one or more topics related to consumer protection policy; joint organization of a summer school.

L’ÉQUIPE ACTUELLE DU GREDICC

Direction: Thierry BOURGOIGNIE, Professeur titulaire, Département des sciences juridiques, UQÀM.

Coordination scientifique: Patricia GALINDO, Candidate au doctorat en droit, UQÀM, Professeure à la Faculté de droit de l’UniversidadeFederal Fluminense, Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brésil..

Coordination administrative:Pierrick PUGEAUD, Candidat à la maîtrise en droit, UQÀM.

Responsable de l’École d’été:Françoise MANIET, Chargée de cours UQÀM, Licenciée en droit (Université de Louvain, Belgique), Maître en droit européen (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgique), Maitre en sciences de l’environnement (UQÀM).

Assistant-e-s de recherche:Émilie CONWAY, Diplômée du Baccalauréat en relations internationales et droit international (UQÀM), Maître en droit international (UQÀM), Candidate au Baccalauréat en droit (McGill).

Khalid DERRAZ,Candidat à la Maîtrise en droit, UQÀM.

Marie-Laurence HÉBERT-DOLBEC, Candidate à la maîtrise en droit, UQÀM.

Claire LEBEKE, Maîtrise en droit (Montpellier, France), Candidate au doctorat en droit (UQÀM).

Stanislav LOVETSKI, Candidat au doctorat en droit, UQÀM.

Professeur-e-s associé-e-s:Julio ALVAREZ RUBIO (Université de Cantabria, Santander, Espagne), Karounga DIAWARA (Université Laval, Québec), Marc LACOURSIÈRE (Université Laval, Québec), Pierre-Claude LAFOND (Université de Montréal), Claudia LIMA-MARQUES (Universidade Federal de Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brésil), Gilles PAISANT (Université de Savoie, Chambéry, France), Geneviève SAUMIER (Université McGill).

Adresse:GREDICC

Département des sciences juridiques

Case postale 8888, Succursale Centre-ville

Montréal (Québec) H3C 3P8

Canada

Téléphone:++ 1514987 3000, poste 1635

Télécopie:++ 1514987 8734

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