Reconceptualizing Consumer Protection in Zambia: A Legal and Socioeconomic Review of Unfair Trade Practices and the Evolution of Statutory Consumer Rights

Alex Chola Kafwabulula and Austin Mwange
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Alex Chola Kafwabulula: PhD Candidate, University of Zambia, Institute of Distance Education, Lusaka, Zambia
Austin Mwange: Lecturer, The University of Zambia, Graduate School of Business, Lusaka, Zambia

African Journal of Commercial Studies, 2025, vol. 6, issue 1

Abstract: This article undertakes a critical doctrinal and socio-legal review of Zambia’s evolving consumer protection landscape with a specific focus on the conceptualisation of unfair trade practices, consumer complaint behaviour, and the normative foundations of consumer rights. Drawing from the theoretical underpinnings of legal positivism, natural law theory, and rights-based jurisprudence, the study explores the historical, philosophical, and legal evolution of consumer protection norms from pre-colonial barter systems to the modern statutory frameworks such as the Competition and Consumer Protection Act (2010). The article also examines the conceptual tension between the state’s regulatory obligations and consumers’ agency within increasingly complex commercial transactions. Using a comparative legal approach and literature synthesis methodology, this review article juxtaposes the Zambian experience with global legislative trends, notably the European Union’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and U.S. consumer protection doctrines. It is concluded that Zambia’s consumer protection regime, while formally progressive, remains substantively deficient due to limited consumer rights awareness, enforcement weaknesses, and legislative fragmentation. The paper proposes a reconceptualisation of consumer protection grounded in both normative legal theory and empirical consumer behaviour analysis, advancing the thesis that an integrated rights-based and behavioural model is imperative for the realisation of consumer welfare and economic justice in Zambia.

Keywords: Consumer Protection; Unfair Trade Practices; Consumer Complaint Behaviour; Legal Positivism; Natural Law; Consumer Rights; Zambia; Socio-Legal Framework; Statutory Enforcement; Comparative Consumer Law (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D18 K15 K23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cwk:ajocsk:2025-35

DOI: 10.59413/ajocs/v6.i.1.19

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