Consumer Protection in Financial Contract Law

Institution: University of Oslo

Name of unit of assessment: Faculty of Law

Title of case: Consumer Protection in Financial Contract Law Period when the underpinning research was undertaken: 2009 -

Details of staff conducting the underpinning research from the submitting unit Name(s):

Period when the impact occurred: 2014-

1. Summary of the impact

Marte Kjørven’s research on consumer protection in financial contract law has had a remarkable impact on this field of law in Norway. Her doctoral thesis on mis-selling of investment products to consumers, played an important role in the legal reasoning of the Supreme Court (Rt-2013-388 and HR-2020-475-A) and her research on consumer protection related to the misuse of digital identities has lead the

Supreme Court to deviate from previous case-law in such cases (HR-2020-2021). Her research has also been an important source for the revised Norwegian Securities Trading Act in 2020.

2.Underpinning research

e. The nature of the scientific insights or findings which relate to the impact in the case.

Kjørven’s research has focused on the role of EU finance regulation law and EU consumer protection law in Norwegian financial contract law. This has led to an increased consumer protection in both legislation and case law. The revised Securities Trading Act balances the rights and duties between the provider of financial services and the consumer. The rights of the consumer are made clearer, and so is the duties of the service provider. Kjørven could use her insights from her doctoral degree into her work as an advisor to the Ministry of Justice. Her reasoning in both her thesis, various articles and contributions to the media has resonated to the courts in their rulings on these matters even before the new legislation has entered into force.

f. An outline of what the underpinning research produced by the submitted unit was (this may relate to one or more research outputs, projects or programmes).

The Ph.D. thesis: “Ytelse av investeringstjenester til forbruker – verdipapirrettslige, kontraktsrettslige og erstatningsrettslige krav til atferd» (the (Mis)selling of Investment

Products to Consumers). The articles referred in section 5 below are also results of the research.

To some extent, so is the preparatory work for the revised financial contracts act (Prop. 92 LS (2019-2020)

g. Any relevant key contextual information about this area of research.

Protection of consumers in financial contracts is very important for the public. Every citizen is dependent on lending, saving and using remedies as digital identification that are provided by the finance sector.

3. References to the research (indicative maximum of six references)

h. Kjørven, Marte Eidsand (2020). Who Pays When Things Go Wrong? Online Financial Fraud and Consumer Protection in Scandinavia and Europe.

European Business Law Review. ISSN 0959-6941. 31(1), s 77- 110 i. Kjørven, Marte Eidsand (2019). Closet Index Funds and Retail Investor

Protection – A Scandinavian Perspective. Tilburg Law Review. ISSN 2211-0046. 24(1), s 125- 138 . doi:

https://tilburglawreview.com/articles/10.5334/tilr.141/ Full text in Research Archive.

j. Kjørven, Marte Eidsand.

k. Ytelse av investeringstjenester til forbruker: verdipapirrettslige, kontraktsrettslige og erstatningsrettslige krav til atferd.

Universitetsforlaget 2017 (ISBN 978-82-15-02833-0) 300 p.

l. Kjørven, Marte Eidsand (2012). Anvendelse av avtaleloven § 36 ved salg av finansielle instrumenter til forbruker - kommentar til Rt. 2012 s. 355 (Lognvik-saken). Lov og Rett. ISSN 0024-6980. (7), s 387- 406 m. Kjørven, Marte Eidsand.

n. Det privatrettslige forbrukervernet på finansområdet. 40. Nordiske Juristmøte; 2014-08-21 - 2014-08-22

4.Details of the impact

Marte Kjørven’s research on consumer protection in financial contract law has had an impact both during her research period and after. There has been an interesting

interaction between research, partaking in the debate in the media and legislative work in the Ministry of Justice.

The research on mis-selling on investment products to consumers had impact on case law both during the research period and after the research was carried out. Her thoughts were given considerable weight both in the Supreme Court judgment referred in Rt-2013-388, and in the later Supreme Court judgment referred to as HR-2020-475-A (see links below in 5). Kjørven takes part in the international discussion on these issues, as is shown by the references to her article below in 5). The consumer protection aspects and the stricter liabilities for providers of financial services are shown in the revised financial contracts act.

There are several references to Kjørven’s works in the preparatory works (Prop. 92 LS (2019–2020).

Kjørven’s main focus during the last years of research is on misuse of digital identities. She has written several opinions in newspapers related to this question. Previous case-law has been very strict towards consumers whose digital identities has been misused. The have often been held liable to pay back loans that is the result of misuse of their digital identities. Recent case-law has taken on Kjørven’s approach. The Norwegian Supreme Court’s judgment on March 22. 2020 took a more consumer friendly approach, in line with the guidelines suggested by Kjørven. In 2020 Kjørven, in collaboration with other

colleagues from the University of Oslo, NTNU and the University of Tartu (Estland) was rewarded a large amount from the Norwegian Research Council to a project on societal security and digital identities.

5.Sources to corroborate the impact

Prop. 92 LS (2019-2020) Lov om finansavtaler (finansavtaleloven) og samtykke til godkjennelse av EØS-komiteens beslutninger nr. 125/2019 og 130/2019 av 8. mai 2019 om innlemmelse i EØS-avtalen av direktiv 2014/17/EU om kredittavtaler for forbrukere i forbindelse med fast eiendom til boligformål (boliglåndirektivet) og delegert kommisjonsforordning (EU) nr. 1125/2014:

https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/prop.-92-ls-20192020/id2700119/

Marte Kjørven, “Closet Index Funds and Retail Investor Protection – A Scandinavian Perspective”, Tilburg Law Review: https://tilburglawreview.com/articles/10.5334/tilr.141/

Marte Kjørven: “Who Pays When Things Go Wrong? Online Financial Fraud and Consumer Protection in Scandinavia and Europe”, European Business Law Review

https://kluwerlawonline.com/journalarticle/European+Business+Law+Review/31.1/EULR2020004 Høyesteretts dom 22. October 2020 HR-2020-2021-A:

https://www.domstol.no/Enkelt-domstol/hoyesterett/avgjorelser/2020/hoyesterett-sivil/hr-2020-2021-a/

Høyesteretts dom 22. March 2013 HR-2013-00642-S:

https://www.domstol.no/Enkelt-domstol/hoyesterett/avgjorelser/2013/hoyesterett-sivil/Gyldigherten-av-avtaler-om-kjop-av-sakalte-strukturerte-spareprodukter/

Marte Kjørven, «Hvis fondsforvaltning hadde vært en pølse», Aftenposten, 5. februar 2018 https://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/debatt/i/yv4R9a/hvis-fondsforvaltning-hadde-vaert-en-poelse-marte-eidsand-kjoerven

Høyesteretts dom 27. February 2020 HR-2020-474-A:

https://www.domstol.no/Enkelt-domstol/hoyesterett/avgjorelser/2020/hoyesterett-sivil/hr-2020-475-a/