Reinhard Steennot

Protecting borrowers through information and advice: the Belgian Consumer Credit Act

The Consumer Credit Directive requires the creditor or the credit intermediary on one hand to provide certain information and adequate explanations to consumers before they are bound by a consumer credit agreement and on the other hand to assess the consumer’s creditworthiness before the conclusion of the credit agreement. The aim of this paper is to discuss the transposition of the European Consumer Credit Directive into Belgian legislation. We will analyse the pre-contractual obligations – and their sanctions in case of violation – as applied by the courts. Also, we will examine whether the Belgian Act is compatible with the Consumer Credit Directive, the latter being based on the principle of targeted full harmonisation.

The impact of the directive on payment services in the internal market on Danish and Belgian legislation on fraudulent payment transactions

In December 2007, the European Directive on payment services in the internal market was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. This directive, which has to be transposed into national legislation before 1 November 2009, contains many rules on payments, including rules on the allocation of liability in case of fraudulent use of a payment instrument. The aim of this paper is to briefly discuss the regime concerning fraudulent payment transactions which is incorporated in the new directive and, further, to find out in what way the directive had or will have an impact on Danish and Belgian legislation. More specifically, we will examine how the rules incorporated in the European directive, which is based on the principle of maximum harmonisation, are implemented in Belgium and Denmark, whether the implementations are in accordance with the directive and, finally, whether the directive and the implementations reduce or strengthen the protection of payment service users in the two countries and promote the creation of a common internal market for payment services.

Erroneous execution of payment transactions according to the new payment services Directive

When a payment transaction is executed incorrectly, one has to determine who will be liable for the damages caused by the wrong execution. In Europe, the new Payment Services Directive contains important rules on late and erroneous execution. This paper will show that the new Directive has a scope of application, which is broader than both the former Directive on cross-border credit transfers and the former Recommendation on electronic payment instruments. It will also analyse the rules relating to erroneous execution incorporated in the new Directive and evaluate these rules.

Fraudulent Use of Electronic Payment Instruments on the Internet

In the near future the European Commission will enact a proposal for a directive for a new legal framework for payments in the internal market. This proposal will contain interesting rules allocating liability in case an electronic payment instrument is used fraudulently on the Internet. The aim of this paper is to find out whether the proposed regime is the most appropriate to deal with problems of fraudulent use of electronic payment instruments. Before discussing and evaluating the rules proposed, we have a closer look at the existing rules in Europe and the United States