Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Hanover, Maryland is a locality in unincorporated northwestern Anne Arundel County, Maryland in the United States, located south of Baltimore near the Howard County line. It is located approximately at the intersection of Maryland State Highway 100 and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. It is part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area and is located just southwest of the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (commonly known as "BWI"). Hanover was largely unknown prior to the opening of the Arundel Mills mall in November 2000. Since then, the area has seen explosive growth; shopping centers and housing developments have popped up along Arundel Mills Boulevard (Route 713), which links the B-W Parkway and Route 100 to Arundel Mills. There is currently an effort to fight the placement of a Video Lottery Terminal casino at the Arundel Mills Mall. The Maryland Department of Transportation is headquartered at 7201 Corporate Center Drive, which has a Hanover address.