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Consumers’ right for information on labour standards under which the clothes and sportswear sold in the European Internal Market are produced: Legal basis in the EC law and the rationale in buyer behaviour

Larva, Kirsti (2002)
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
Consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the abusive exploitation of workers in some of the factories in the development countries that are contracted to produce exports to the European market. Thus, some of the consumers try to promote the enforcement of ethical business practices globally by using their buying behaviour. In effect, the ethical consumers prefer to buy ethically sound goods to the perceived unethical goods if there is no significant upward change in the selling price. To do so, consumers must have accurate information of the labour standards behind the clothing and sportswear brands available at the buying situation. This information however is seldom available and that causes information asymmetry between the... (More)
Consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the abusive exploitation of workers in some of the factories in the development countries that are contracted to produce exports to the European market. Thus, some of the consumers try to promote the enforcement of ethical business practices globally by using their buying behaviour. In effect, the ethical consumers prefer to buy ethically sound goods to the perceived unethical goods if there is no significant upward change in the selling price. To do so, consumers must have accurate information of the labour standards behind the clothing and sportswear brands available at the buying situation. This information however is seldom available and that causes information asymmetry between the businesses and the consumers. Such an imbalance of information hinders the efficiency in the European Internal Market; therefore this issue is an interest for the European Union and the EC law to address in regard to the European Union’s overall objective of fully functioning Internal Market. Consumer protection is recognised as a principal objective of the Community in the Treaty establishing European Union. Is the European legislative framework however developed enough to enable legislative measures regarding consumer rights for extrinsic information of products, such as the information on product’s impact on the environment? This paper concludes with the issue of corporate social responsibility being more important than ever and thus also corporations should take its addressing seriously. For example, perceived association with unethical practices may have harmful effects on company’s brand image and thus have an undesirable influence on performance. On the other hand, being proactive in the field might be a source of innovation and increased resource productivity whilst the commitment to the social responsibility could add value to the marketing activities. (Less)
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@misc{1346719,
  abstract     = {{Consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the abusive exploitation of workers in some of the factories in the development countries that are contracted to produce exports to the European market. Thus, some of the consumers try to promote the enforcement of ethical business practices globally by using their buying behaviour. In effect, the ethical consumers prefer to buy ethically sound goods to the perceived unethical goods if there is no significant upward change in the selling price. To do so, consumers must have accurate information of the labour standards behind the clothing and sportswear brands available at the buying situation. This information however is seldom available and that causes information asymmetry between the businesses and the consumers. Such an imbalance of information hinders the efficiency in the European Internal Market; therefore this issue is an interest for the European Union and the EC law to address in regard to the European Union’s overall objective of fully functioning Internal Market. Consumer protection is recognised as a principal objective of the Community in the Treaty establishing European Union. Is the European legislative framework however developed enough to enable legislative measures regarding consumer rights for extrinsic information of products, such as the information on product’s impact on the environment? This paper concludes with the issue of corporate social responsibility being more important than ever and thus also corporations should take its addressing seriously. For example, perceived association with unethical practices may have harmful effects on company’s brand image and thus have an undesirable influence on performance. On the other hand, being proactive in the field might be a source of innovation and increased resource productivity whilst the commitment to the social responsibility could add value to the marketing activities.}},
  author       = {{Larva, Kirsti}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Consumers’ right for information on labour standards under which the clothes and sportswear sold in the European Internal Market are produced: Legal basis in the EC law and the rationale in buyer behaviour}},
  year         = {{2002}},
}