GLOBALIZATION, REGULATION AND CONSUMER LAW

Abstract

Nowadays, not only the word globalization has become common-place but this very observation has turned trivial in the academy and the media. These facts do not exempt us from the duty of defining the concept when we speak about globalization, regulation and consumer law. For the purposes of this paper one might define globalization in a provisory and preliminary manner as a process of an economic and political nature characterized by the following features: a) the expansion of international commerce and development of a global market based on a post-fordist (or post-industrial) production structure; b) the increasing homogeneity of cultural standards and standards of consumption; c) the weakening of the idea of Nation State for the benefit of economic agents of the new global market; d) development of commercial blocs.