Autorregulamentação do comércio eletrônico: proteção ao consumidor e competitividade positiva na Constituição de 1988

Abstract

The present dissertation has as purpose to investigate the self-regulation of e-commerce in the light of consumer and business law s constitutionalization. It seeks to analyze how the new constitutional hermeneutics can solve the collision of consumer protection s principle with the principles of free enterprise and free competition in e-commerce, regarding modern society s multiculturalism, which requires protective social policies to the excluded and hyposufficient groups, mainly due to hegemonic globalization. It will be proposed that the autonomy of the will, or else, freedom of contract, is not absolute, as it is narrowed by Consumer Law and the fact that the risk of the activity must be assumed by the supplier, as free enterprise s counterpart. However, it will also be argued that the consumer s protection cannot rule out entirely the free initiative, under penalty of nullifying the collectivity s own economic development. Accordingly, guidelines for resolving consumer s virtual disputes will be found through a principles vision contained in constitutional rules, as an operational methodology and interpretive reflex of the Fundamental Law. The specific focus that will be addressed is the harmonization of consumer protection with the pursuit of positive competitiveness at e-commerce, in regard to the fundamental principles of human dignity and the social function of property and enterprise. The solution of consumers virtual conflicts requires the understanding that global constitutionalism calls the demand to guide the action that enables the well-being in the world, since man is on the threshold of true dialogue, in which individuals, society and culture need to solve their problems based on ethics and respect for others. Finally, this study aims to demonstrate that the implementation of consumer protection and the fundamental right to freedom of trade in social relations, formed in the negotiations that take place in the internet, requires a position of supervision and intervention of the State to ensure this dialogue and the preservation of the community s interests and general welfare. The resolution of the virtual consumption conflicts therefore requires the balancing of the constitutional norms of consumer protection and free enterprise, based on the principle of proportionality.