On 16 November 2020, the Attorney General Alliance (AGA) - Africa in collaboration with the Department of Mercantile Law in the Faculty of Law (UP Law) at the University of Pretoria (UP) presented a Consumer Protection Law webinar.  Professors Jacolien Barnard, Stéfan Renke and Dr Sylvia Papadopoulos in the Department of Mercantile Law participated in this webinar.

AGA-Africa Board Member, Markus Green, opened and contextualised the webinar and Barnard moderated the webinar. 

The webinar was part of a webinar series on Consumer Protection Law and a follow-up of the very successful collaborative Workshop that was held as part of the virtual University of Pretoria International Consumer Protection Law Conference (UPICLC) from 21 to 23 September 2020.

The focus of the webinar of 16 November 2020 was on current Consumer Protection Law issues from a global perspective, but in particular the US-African experience. At least three presenters on each topic representative of specialists from the United States, the University of Pretoria Consumer Protection Law Cluster, and other African Countries (Kenya and Nigeria in particular) participated in this virtual event.

The topics under discussion were: Consumer Debt Collection and Credit Reporting; and Consumer Privacy. Barnard was the co-moderator for UP together with Mr John Ukgebu from the US. Prof Stéfan Renke presented an excellent lecture on Debt Collection from a South African perspective and Dr Sylvia Papadopoulos explained the intricate legal position of consumer privacy in South Africa from the viewpoint of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013. 

Other participants in the webinar are indicated in the image below:

The webinar series was so successful that the AGA-AAP together with the Consumer Protection Law Cluster at UP Law are already planning further collaboration for 2021.

The webinar was officially concluded by AGA-Africa Country Representative, Kim Robinson.

Pages 18 and 19 of the enclosed Africa Tracker Newsletter, November 2020, refers to this event.