Unfair Contract Terms in Consumer Contracts

Abstract

Nowadays, the increase in using the contracts in which one party has a stronger position against the weaker party provides the stronger party a possibility to insert some unfair terms in contract. In recent years, some countries have tried to enact some legislation to protect the weaker party against such terms. This Article examines comparatively regulations on unfair contract terms in EU in order to consider its historical development, what an unfair contract term is and why the weaker party should be protected against such terms. General contract rules and some special protective Acts that have been adopted in recent years in Iranian law arises the question of how the protection of weaker party considers, especially consumers, against unfair contract terms. Our view is that although general rules and special acts, to some extent, protect the weaker party against unfair terms, it is necessary to enact new protective Acts for the purpose of full protection of consumers against these terms .

Keywords

• unfair contract terms
• abusive clauses
• standard contracts
• consumer contracts
• abuse of stronger contractual position
• inequality in bargaining power