Who Is a Consumer?

Abstract

Determining who is a consumer is the very beginning of all consumer protection legislation. Only if the addressee of the statutory guarantees is properly defined it is possible to tailor the respective rights and obligations, which are necessary to protect consumers adequately. At the same time, the consumer definition is of significant importance, considering its far-reaching consequences. A too narrow formulation would leave vulnerable consumers unprotected, whereas a too broad definition would diminish the actual justification for consumer law. In fulfilling this challenging task legislators went various paths, which can be generally classified as either objective or subjective solutions. This paper examines the advantages and disadvantages of an objective consumer definition as well as of a subjective consumer definition, in order to determine which one is preferable and should be applied by New Zealand’s consumer legislation.