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The case law of the European Court of Justice (CJEU), despite confirming in theory the importance of res judicata, has regularly affirmed the need to overcome stability of national judges’ opinions formally qualified as final if that is needed to ensure effective consumers protection. Against this scenario, the Italian Supreme Court (Cass., sez. un. 6 April 2023, n. 9479), seems to have initiated a dialogue with the CJEU, mainly aimed at giving actuation of the principles enacted by the European Court but nevertheless with some apparent revindications of autonomy. The variety of solutions adopted by national judges and the creative effort of the Italian Supreme Court seem to confirm that an intervention by European or national legislators could be required at this point on the matter.

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2023 8(2), 647-663 | Article | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. – II. Consumer law enforcement through computational investigations. – II.1. The CPC Regulation. – II.2. DSA. – III. Computational Measurements of Influencer Activity: a case study for digital enforcement. – IV. Consumer forensics: a new field for digital detectives. – IV.1. Consolidating data collection and analysis methods for consumer law. – IV.2. Classifying new forms of consumer harms. – IV.3. Developing new approaches to consumer protection. – IV.4. Exploring the legal and ethical implications of consumer forensics. – V. Conclusion. | (Abstract) Effective enforcement on digital markets is one of the most essential considerations for contemporary consumer law and policy. On digital markets, traders engage in very sophisticated commercial practices that are opaque to the average consumer. Online information is necessary for the monitoring of how companies engage in legal compliance, and where public authorities should intervene. This puts a lot of pressure on public administration to develop investigation and enforcement approaches that match the different consumer harms and needs arising out of digital markets. As it is virtually impossible to police technology practices without understanding the technologies and business models behind them, public authorities need to arm themselves with the means necessary to detect digital violations. This Article focuses on the digital enforcement of consumer protection law in the European Union and proposes a new field of research focused on the investigation and enforcement of consumer violations on digital markets in the form of “consumer forensics”. In the author’s opinion, consumer forensics is the answer to the question of how consumer enforcement regulation can become future-proof. As digitalization is rapidly affecting the way in which consumers are protected on the Internet, both the substantive and procedural dimensions of regulatory effectiveness will be impacted by evidence gathering to understand and further prove the existence of new online harms. To show the potential of this topic, the Article will offer some in-depth insights from a very specific topic of administrative scrutiny, namely measuring influencer marketing activities that are relevant for consumer protection.

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2023 8(2), 631-646 | Article | (Table of Contents) I. Introduction. – II. Personalised marketing and its potential to exploit consumer vulnerabilities. – II.1. Personalised marketing. – II.2. Potential to exploit consumer vulnerabilities. – III. Consumer protection against personalised marketing: shortcomings of the current EU legal framework. – III.1. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. – III.2. Three main obstacles in effectively protecting consumers. – IV. Recent legislative changes and proposals: only a partial solution. – IV.1. Introduction. – IV.2. Modernisation Directive. – IV.3. Digital Services Act. – IV.4. Artificial Intelligence Act. – IV.5. Conclusion. – V. Research and policy agenda: towards future-proof marketing law. – V.1. An overall redesign of EU marketing law. – V.2. Research and policy agenda. – VI. Conclusion. | (Abstract) While companies used to advertise primarily via mass media, marketing (in particular online) is becoming increasingly personalised. Personalised marketing offers benefits to consumers, but can also exploit their vulnerabilities. For example, personalised marketing enables companies to specifically target psychological weaknesses in consumers. This threatens their autonomy and increases the power asymmetry between companies and consumers. EU marketing law, and in particular the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, aims at protecting consumers against economic harm by reducing power asymmetries between companies and consumers. This Article will discuss to what extent EU marketing law is future-proof in terms of its fitness to effectively protect consumers against personalised marketing techniques. It will be argued that the law is currently unfit to effectively protect consumers, and that recent legislative changes and proposals only address this problem to a limited extent. It is argued that a “quick fix” to make EU marketing law future-proof is not available, and that an overall redesign of EU marketing law is necessary to protect consumers against the personalised marketing techniques of today and tomorrow.

(Series Information) European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2023 8(1), 221-226 | Article | (Abstract) This explanation presents the Special Section “The horizontal clauses of arts 8-13 TFEU: normative implications, implementation and potential for mainstreaming”, which collects six Articles originally presented at a workshop devoted to the integration clauses of the TFEU held in October 2021. With a view to working towards a better understanding of arts 8-13 TFEU and their contribution to gender equality, non-discrimination, social protection, environmental protection, consumer protection and animal welfare, the six Articles reflect on the legal nature, value and effects of relevant provisions on EU law- and policy-making. Setting the scene, the explanation outlines the main research questions that guide the analysis in the six Articles and explains how each contribution feeds into the Special Section.