Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce According to Iraqi Legislations: An overview

Electronic commerce is one of the results of the development in information technology. It provides new opportunities for consumers and business. E-commerce participates in making the world one market and crossing borders that previously was unimaginable. Iraq is one of the examples of developing countries also benefits from the development in e-commerce. However, many factors may obstruct the development and adoption of e-commerce. The existing legal framework of e-commerce, namely the Consumer Protection Act No.1 of 2010 and the Electronic Signature and Transactions Act No. 78 of 2012 does not cover several crucial issues such as data security, dispute resolution mechanisms, misleading advertising or unclear liability in cross-border transactions. Therefore, this study triggers to examine the consumer protection according to Iraqi laws to determine the extent to which these laws are sufficient to provide protection for consumer rights in e-commerce transactions. For this purpose, it adopts the analytical method by analysing the provisions of Iraqi legislations relating to consumer protection. This study found that the current Iraqi legislations are insufficient to provide enough protection for consumers in e-commerce. And there is a necessity to revise these legislations to grant effective protection for consumers in Iraqi in this field.