This book investigates the regime of consumer benchmarks in the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and explores to what extent this regime meets each of the goals of the Directive. In particular, it assesses whether the consumer benchmarks are suitable in terms of achieving the three goals of the Directive: achieving a high level of consumer protection, increasing the smooth functioning of the internal market, and improving competition in the market as such. In addition to providing a thorough analysis of the consumer benchmarks and their relationship to the goals of the Directive, at a more practical level, the book provides insight into the working and consequences of the benchmarks that can be used in the evaluation of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and its application by the CJEU. This assessment is important because the Directive, while promising to regulate unfair commercial practices in a way that achieves the Directive’s goals, has removed the possibility for Member States to regulate unfair commercial practices themselves.
"The aim of Duivenvoorde's book is to investigate the Directive's regime of consumer benchmarks and to explore its effectiveness in achieving the purposes of the Directive. ... Duivenvoorde has made a very interesting, interdisciplinary and comparative analysis of the consumer benchmarks in the UCPD. ... each chapter is enriched by many concrete examples in a comparative perspective. ... this book is very interesting, topical, and thought-provoking." (Anaïs Michel and Bert Keirsbilck, Common Market Law Review, Vol. 54 (2), 2017)