การคุ้มครองผู้บริโภคเกี่ยวกับสิทธิในการรับรู้ข้อมูลก่อนการทำสัญญาพาณิชย์อิเล็กทรอนิกส์

Abstract

The article aims to study consumer protection on the right to receive pre-contractual information relating to e-commerce contracts. The methodology of this study is a comparative study of The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recommendation on consumer protection in e-commerce and the consumer protection laws of Thailand. The results of the study found that Thailand has stipulated consumer rights in the Consumer Protection Act B.E. 2522 which was amended by the Consumer Protection Act (No. 2) B.E 2541 that consumers have the right to receive information about the product or service. However, there is no specific provision that imposes the duty of the traders to provide information prior to the conclusion of the contract. As a result, consumers do not receive the necessary information before the contract is concluded. In addition, when consumers have entered into such contracts, they may not be fair in contracting or be disadvantaged by contracting. The OECD recommendation has set principles for consumer protection in electronic commerce in various matters, especially the right to receive pre-contractual information stating that trader must provide sufficient information for consumers to decide to conduct transactions. This article, therefore, recommends that OECD recommendation for e-commerce contracts should be applied to Thailand. Besides, the duties of the traders to provide information for consumers must be clear and fair, also in line with OECD recommendation on consumer protection in e-commerce.