Safeguarding the legal balance between competitive entrepreneurship (business) and sustainable consumption

Lina Novikovienė () and Ieva Navickaitė-Sakalauskienė ()
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Lina Novikovienė: Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania
Ieva Navickaitė-Sakalauskienė: Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, 2020, vol. 8, issue 1, 868-883

Abstract: In this article it is argued that traditional consumer policy increasingly requires transformation towards sustainability. For this purpose, consumer protection regulation must be reshaped into taking environmental needs into account rather than focusing solely on the realization of the European Union internal market, and the satisfaction of endless consumer demands. In order to bring benefits to both the economy and the environment, sustainable consumption choices have to be fostered. The authors focus on the pre-contractual stage of business-to-consumer legal relations, and argue that businesses rethink their marketing strategies and try to emphasize environment friendly aspects. Competitive advantage usually gained by offering consumers greater value by means of lower prices gradually loses its impact, and other methods such as environmental claims become more important in this sense. As advertising can be a powerful force for promoting sustainable consumption by highlighting the sustainable dimensions of goods and convincing consumers to purchase these products, the issue is raised of assuring the truth of advertising as a tool for basic consumer protection in the pre-contractual stage of business-to-consumer legal relations. The authors emphasize that consumer protection against unfair commercial practices should play a significant role in the assessment of environmental claims. The aim of this article is to examine the legal regulation on unfair commercial practices in order to find a balance between the efforts of sustainability-driven entrepreneurs to succeed in a competitive market and the protection of the interests of consumers supporting greener goals.

Keywords: sustainable consumption; sustainable consumer protection law; Unfair Commercial Practices Directive; environmental claims; sustainable consumption initiatives in Lithuania (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: K12 K20 K32 K39 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ssi:jouesi:v:8:y:2020:i:1:p:868-883

DOI: 10.9770/jesi.2020.8.1(58)

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