The Adequacy of Uganda's Legal Framework for Protecting Consumers in Electronic Commerce

Electronic commerce enables consumers to purchase goods and services without meeting suppliers, inspecting products or negotiating standard terms. These conveniences also create problems of seller identification, misleading information, payment loss, personal-data misuse and inaccessible remedies. This article critically assesses the adequacy of Uganda's legal framework through doctrinal and documentary analysis of verified legislation, reported judicial decisions, regulatory material and selected comparative authorities. Ugandan principal statutes are cited by their chapter numbers, including the Contracts Act, Cap 284, and the Electronic Transactions Act, Cap 99. The analysis finds that Uganda possesses substantive electronic-consumer protections: the framework recognises electronic records and agreements, imposes disclosure obligations and provides cancellation, performance and refund protections. General contract, sales, payments, communications and data-protection laws provide additional routes of accountability. However, the existence of rights does not resolve questions about platform responsibility, manipulative interfaces, fragmented complaint routes, electronic proof and affordable recovery against distant or unidentified suppliers. Ugandan cases demonstrate the importance of contract formation, authentication, proportionate service decisions and proof of loss. Foreign cases are used as comparative reasoning rather than binding Ugandan authority. The article concludes that the framework is a substantial but incompletely integrated foundation. Reform should preserve existing protections while clarifying marketplace duties, strengthening usable disclosure and records, coordinating complaints and creating accessible redress. The findings are legal and analytical; no consumer survey, compliance audit or causal estimate of enforcement effectiveness is reported.