Addressing the Need for Consumer Protection in E-commerce in Saudi Arabia

In traditional commercial transactions, consumers are usually regarded as the vulnerable party.1 This vulnerability is, arguably, more pronounced in e-commerce due to the way this particular kind of business is conducted, and this creates additional complications that do not exist in a traditional trade transaction. E-consumer concerns can be reduced by creating an appropriate legal environment, including the introduction of consumer protection regulations.
Most developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, have realised that empowering consumers is important for fostering the e-commerce market.2 However, in developing countries, the lack of consumer protection regulations for e-commerce is one of the main barriers to the progression of e-commerce. Saudi Arabia is one country affected by a lack of efficient protection for e-consumers.3 This lack of efficiency is attributed to the ambiguity of current measures available for protecting e-consumers; current measures are based on basic consumer protection principles gleaned from Sharia and some other standard regulations that are used for protecting e-consumers. In the context of e-commerce, these general rules require further explanation and clarification.4 Therefore, the overriding objective of this research is to address the need for e-consumer protection regulations in Saudi Arabia by proposing a legal framework that might be used to provide efficient protection.
This research identifies areas that contribute to the ambiguity of current measures, including a lack of clear unified regulations for e-consumer protection, and a lack of clear provisions in specific areas including: information obligation, the right to cancel, and rights of redress. In order to address these needs, a legal framework is suggested. This was built by using UK regulations as a model, with consideration given to their suitability for the Saudi Legal system, and its culture and traditions.