Christine Riefa

Senior Lecturer

Qualifications

Maîtrise (University of Montpellier)
DEA ((University of Montpellier)
Doctorat/PhD (University of Montpellier)

Dr Christine Riefa is a senior lecturer specialising in consumer and internet law. She is an elected board member of the International Association of Consumer Law (www.iaclaw.org) and one of the editors of Zeitschrift für Europäisches Unternehmens- und Verbraucherrecht / Journal of European Consumer and Market Law (www.euvr.eu), a newly created Journal, published by Springer.

Dr Christine Riefa is the senior admissions tutor for the Brunel Law School and in 2011 she won a Star Award for her work on admissions in the School.

Dr Riefa is a committed teacher who thrives on developing new curriculum initiatives that help students acquire key knowledge and skills to boost their employability prospects. Her key achievement in this area were the developing of a pioneering, multi-disciplinary and international course: the European Master in Consumer Affairs (EMCA) and obtaining external funding for the development and running of this course. The European Commission DG SANCO funded the course for a total of €750,000 (shared amongst the five partner universities over 3 years) and an additional €350,000 was available to fund student mobility.

Her excellent teaching abilities and commitment to student learning have also been recognised internationally. Dr Riefa was a Fulbright EU Scholar-in-Residence at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland, Ohio, USA during academic year 2010-2011. The award was made on the proposal to teach an innovative course on European Consumer Law and contribute to curriculum development at Cleveland-Marshall. Last academic year, she was also a distinguished Visiting Teacher at University of Western Australia, UWA Perth, Australia where she taught classes on international consumer law and on consumers in virtual environments.

Teaching

Consumer Law
Intellectual Property Law

Research Interests

Consumer Law
Internet Law
Some elements of Intellectual Property Law

Research Areas

Comparative law
Consumer law
Intellectual property
Internet law

Research Groups

CLRC Commercial Law Research Centre
IPIMRC Intellectual Property, Internet Media Research Centre

PhD Supervision

Internet law
Consumer Law

External Activities

Dr Christine Riefa is an elected board member of the International Association of Consumer Law (www.iaclaw.org).

She is one of the editors of Zeitschrift für Europäisches Unternehmens- und Verbraucherrecht / Journal of European Consumer and Market Law (www.euvr.eu), a newly created academic journal, published by Springer.

Dr Riefa has acted as a consultant in a number of projects. Her latest project involved working as a key expert on electronic commerce for the CARICOM region. In 2009, CARICOM Member States launched a project entitled “Development of Consumer Policies in Critical Areas” and Dr Riefa acted as an independent expert on electronic commerce and made proposals for the development of consumer policy and a legislative framework that will provide for effective protection of consumer welfare in the Region. The final report was submitted in 2010 and accepted by the Meeting of stakeholders without changes.

Dr Riefa is also a regular invited speaker at international conferences.

Some of her most recent papers include:

The Europeanisation of consumer law (L’européanisation du droit de la consummation), Summer School in Consumer Law, Organised by GREDICC, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Montreal, 4 July – 9 July 2011. (participation fully funded by UQAM and Euro-American Chair).

The liability of online auction intermediaries under Directive 2000/31 for the sale of fake items, IACL Conference, Brunel University 27-29^th June 2011.

Contracts concluded by consumers through eMarketplaces, Electronic commerce 10 years after the Directive of 8 June 2000, CRID, Brussels 28 October 2010 (participation fully funded by organisers).

Keynote address: Developments in EU Consumer Law – lessons for Australia, 5^th Australasian Consumer Law Roundtable, UWA Perth Australia, 22-24 September 2010 (participation fully funded by organisers).

Legal Framework for electronic commerce transactions in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), UNCITRAL & Global Forum for International Consumer Law conference on Online Dispute Resolution and Global e-commerce, March 25-26 2010, Vienna, Austria

Liability of Online Auction Sites for infringing “user-generated content”: Have IP owners lost the battle but not the war?, Mashing-up Culture, the rise of User-generated Content, Counter workshop (FP7 funding) 13-14 May

Consumer Arbitration Agreements – a comparative analysis of the EU and US systems, (with judge Richard Haden), State Bar of California Oxford University Summer Program, Magdalene College, Oxford University, 6-10 July 2008. (participation fully funded by State Bar of California)

Review of the EC Consumer Acquis, Teaching Consumer Law 22-24 May 2008, organised by the Houston Law Centre, Texas USA. (participation fully funded by Houston Law Centre)

The Internet and Vulnerable Consumers, BERR Academic Conference on the Modernisation of Consumer Law, BERR Conference Centre, London, 9 April 2008. (participation fully funded by BERR, the Government department for Enterprise and Industry)

Proposals for a better protection of consumers online auction sites, 11th International Consumer Law Conference, Cape Town, South Africa, 12- 13 April 2007

Les défis du commerce éléctronique – étude de cas: le courtage aux enchères en ligne (e-commerce challenges – case study on online auctions), 30th IDEF Congress, Droit et Nouvelles Technologies: défis et perspectives, 16-18 December 2006, Cairo, Egypt (participation fully funded by IDEF & the Egyptian Government)

Publications

Journal Papers

(2009) Riefa, C., The reform of electronic consumer contracts in Europe: Towards an effective legal framework?, Lex Electronica 14 (2)

(2008) Riefa, C., “To be or not to be an auctioneer?” Some thoughts on the legal nature of online "eBay" auctions and the protection of consumers, Journal of Consumer Policy 31 (2) : 167- 194 Download publication

(2006) Riefa, C., Consumers and electronic communications laws in Europe and England: Reaping the rewards of the new regulatory framework, Annales des télécommunications 61 (7-8) : 924- 949

(2005) Wild, C., Weinstein, S. and Riefa, C., Council Regulation (EC) 44/2001 and Internet consumer contracts: Some thoughts on Article 15 and the futility of applying "in the box" conflict of law rules to the "out of the box" borderless world, nternational Review of Law, Computers & Technology 19 (1) : 13- 21

(2004) Riefa, C., Publicité forfait illimité AOL: Un nouvel élan vers la transparence des offres d'accès à l'Internet, Recueil Dalloz 24 1727- 1731

(2004) Riefa, C., Article 5 of the Rome convention on the law applicable to contractual obligations of 19 June 1980 and consumer e-contracts: The need for reform, Information & Communications Technology Law 13 (1) : 59- 73

Book Chapters

(Accepted) RIEFA, C., Recommended changes to the definitions of “Auction” and “Public Auction” in the Proposal for a Directive on Consumer Rights. In: Kenny, M. and Devenney, J. eds. European consumer protection: theory and practice. Cambridge University Press

(2009) Riefa, C., The changing face of electronic consumer contracts in the twenty-first century: Fit for purpose?. In: Edwards, L. and Waelde, C. eds. Law and the Internet. Oxford and Portland : Hart Publishing 89- 120

(2009) Riefa, C., A dangerous erosion of consumer rights: The absence of a right to withdraw from online auctions. In: Howells, G. ed. Modernising and harmonising consumer contract law. Munich : Sellier European Law Publishers 177- 187

(2005) Riefa, C., Privacy and the internet in the European Union. In: Street, FL. and Grant, MP. eds. Law of the internet. Charlottesville, Va.: Lexis/Michie 2.15- 2.168.50

Books

(Forthcoming) Riefa, C., The protection of consumers on online auction sites. Ashgate