A Review of Consumer Protection Laws in 50 States

The non-profit National Consumer Law Center has issued a report on "Consumer Protection in the States: A 50-State Report on Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices Statutes." The report examines the quality of consumer protections in each state along with suggestions for improvement. From the press release:

Serious gaps and weaknesses have compromised consumer protection laws in most of the 50 states, and recent court rulings have opened the door to predators and abuses in billions of everyday transactions.

The report analyzes and summarizes the unfair and deceptive acts and practices (UDAP) laws that protect consumers in each state and the District of Columbia, and spotlights limitations in the substance and scope of the laws and in their enforcement. “State unfair and deceptive acts and practices laws provide the main defense against abuses in most consumer transactions,” said Carolyn Carter, an NCLC senior attorney and the author of the report. “Yet in some states these laws provide almost no protection to consumers.”