Consumer Law
When Does a Consumer Stop Being One?
Consumer law begins with a deceptively simple question: who counts as a consumer? This project follows the boundary between personal use, self-employment and commercial purpose—and asks whether older legal categories still describe the ways people buy, work and earn today.
The question
The definition of “consumer” determines whether the door to consumer remedies opens at all. Yet the line between personal consumption and commercial activity is increasingly difficult to draw. A device may be bought for individual work, a service may support both livelihood and profit, and a platform user may be customer, worker and product at once. The project examines how the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and the case law surrounding commercial purpose and self-employment respond to these mixed roles.
Branches taking shape
- Personal use and commercial purpose
- Livelihood and self-employment
- Mixed roles in platform markets
This research trail is still being cultivated. Sources, counterarguments and working notes will be added as the question develops.