Minors, contracts and consequences

Author

Gabriel Dupuis, Marcel Boucher

Organization

Union des consommateurs

Published

2011

Summary

Minors are highly active consumers and a fast-growing market. They enter into contracts with merchants providing them with goods and services, and those contracts have consequences.

Can a child, without his parents’ consent, make major purchases? Does the minor’s age make any difference? What remedies does a minor have when a merchant abuses his inexperience (or his lesser ability to resist the call of consumerism)? In such cases, should the parent go to court or should the child himself assert his rights? Does the child even have the legal ability to do so? For his part, does the merchant, when dealing knowingly or unknowingly with a minor, have a right to evoke transaction security? Are parents and merchants well informed about applicable legal rules? How do they perceive the establishment and application of a framework for the consumerism of minors?

The study discusses how the issues are dealt with in Quebec, Canada and elsewhere in the world regarding the ability of minors to enter into contracts, and compares those approaches in an attempt to determine if there are areas where minors are insufficiently protected and, if so, what can be done to better protect them.

The study outlines the results of surveys conducted among parents of teenagers, merchants and government consumer-protection organizations, to determine how these various stakeholders perceive or apply the legal framework.

After assessing the issues in the light of the findings, the report concludes with a few recommendations and possible solutions for better protecting minor consumers.

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OCA Funded Research
This research received funding support through the Office of Consumer Affairs' Contributions Program.

Contact information

Source: Consumer Policy Research Database