Protecting the rights of consumers - clickwrap contracts and direct-to-consumer genetic testing

Thesis

This thesis examines the regulation of the direct-to-consumer genetic testing industry through analysis of the industry’s use of wrap contracts (clickwrap and browsewrap), A significant portion of the thesis consists of a comparative document review of the publicly available wrap contracts of DTCGT companies provided tests for health purposes. It also considers other regulatory responses to date. Due to the lack of industry specific regulation it argues that the use of wrap contracts can be viewed as a means of industry self-regulation and a form of private legislation. This means that governance is skewed heavily in favour of companies and it creates an imbalance in the respective rights and obligations of the parties – company and consumer – which is likely to result in consumer detriment. It is argued that certain types of terms commonly include in DTCGT contracts, including: unilateral variation clauses; some exclusion clauses; choice of law clauses; indemnity; and consent clauses are likely to be deemed unfair and unenforceable under UK law. It recommends that in the short-term the Competition and Markets Authority should undertake a compliance review of DTCGT contracts in order to improving contracts for consumers. In the long term, companies should also be complying with data protection law, as well as legislation on medical devices and the provisions of the Human Tissue Act and there may be a need for industry specific legislation.

Authors: Phillips, A

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: direct-to-consumer genetic testing; genetic information; consumer protection; browsewrap contract; clickwrap contract
• Subjects: Law; consumer protection; Contract law