THE NEED TO ENHANCE ONLINE CONSUMER PROTECTION UNDER EXISTING SAUDI ARABAIN E-COMMERCE LAWS

Abstract

Online trading is a new form of trading that is spreading among consumers, and it leads to the emergence of new challenges to protect the consumer. This is because the nature of e- commerce transactions is borderless. Therefore, new challenges to consumer protection have appeared, such as enforcing local laws against international sellers. This necessitates policymakers to provide adequate protection with particular attention to e-commerce transactions. There is a need to offer adequate regulation that requires the inclusion of specific information online that remediates the lack of inspection or examination of the product. There is also a need to provide fair contractual provisions to enhance consumer confidence and provide a protective environment as well as a need for effective dispute resolution that allows consumers to access redress. Finally, there is a need for cooperation with international consumer protection agencies to investigate and enforce local laws against international sellers. The first objective of the thesis is to identify the shortcomings of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s existing consumer protection laws in terms of e-commerce transactions, including the KSA's new draft consumer protection law. To meet that aim, an adequate consumer protection model was identified to assess the adequacy of the KSA's existing or proposed consumer protection laws. The second objective is to compare KSA national legal frameworks to that of some Gulf Co-operation Council countries, namely the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, in order to find a solution to the identified gaps that KSA policymakers can adopt or adapt. Therefore, a possible solution to or best practice for the shortcomings may provide more protection to the consumer, with special attention to cross-border e-commerce transactions. In this thesis, I examine the aspects of tangible and intangible goods in cross-border e-commerce transactions. I utilize a combination of doctrinal and non-doctrinal law-reform-oriented and comparative methodologies to conduct my research.