An Introduction to the Issue of Consumer Law in South America

This Special Issue has a long history. It goes back to a conference in July 2017 organized by Cláudia Lima Marques in Porto Alegre Brazil, the first of the Center of European and German Studies (CDEA–DAAD). Cláudia Lima Marques managed to bring together consumer lawyers from many South American States. From there it was a long way down to find support for a special issue, to incentivize colleagues and to get at least some of the papers translated from Spanish into English. Here, Laís Bernstein laid the ground, in both substance and procedure. In 2018, Maria Ana Barata stepped in and organized the process of discussion with the authors in Spanish and Portuguese. The various rounds of debate finally led to a successful outcome. That is why Maria Ana Barata deserves to be the lead author in the introduction. All this would not have sufficed if Christopher Goddard had not brought the mixture of non–native English, German, Portuguese and Spanish into a readable format. Hans–W. Micklitz accompanied conceptualization of the conference and the making of the Special Issue from beginning to end.