EUROPA - Gateway to the European Union
Every citizen is a consumer and the European Union takes great care to protect their health, safety and economic well-being. It promotes their rights to information and education, takes steps to help them safeguard their interests, and encourages them to set up and run self-help consumer associations.
The EU is committed to improving the quality of life of its citizens. In addition to direct action to protect their rights, the Union ensures that consumer interests are built into EU legislation in all relevant policy areas. As the single market and the single currency open trading borders, as use of the internet and electronic commerce grows and as the service sector expands, it is important that the nearly 500 million citizens in the 27-nation Union benefit from the same high level of consumer protection.
Whether you shop at the market or online, the EU protects your rights.
An efficient internal market needs an EU-level consumer policy. If the single market functions well, it stimulates consumer confidence in cross-border transactions. But individuals must be confident they have sufficient accurate information before making purchases and enjoy clear legal rights when transactions go wrong. A common set of rules guarantees citizens the required level of protection.
The policy has ensured consumers a large degree of safety in many areas over the years. Specific measures are now in place for toys, personal protective equipment, electrical appliances, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, machinery and recreational craft.
In January 2004, the EU introduced stricter rules on the recall of defective products. The European Commission now receives more than 1 000 notifications of dangerous or unsafe products each year. The principal products at risk are toys, following by electrical appliances and lighting equipment. The new rules also set safety requirements for products like sports and playground equipment, childcare articles, gas appliances and most household products such as textiles and furniture.
Over the years, a number of measures have been taken to safeguard consumers’ wider interests in areas such as:
All toys have to meet EU safety standards.
The scope of EU consumer protection has also broadened, reflecting a shift in people’s needs and expectations. New legislation is setting even higher, harmonised EU safety, security and health standards designed to increase consumer confidence.
In December 2006, the EU adopted a new consumer protection programme for the period 2007-2013 with a total budget of €157 million. It has two main objectives:
In implementing this programme, the European Commission focuses essentially on ways to improve current legislation. But it also wants specific action to enable consumers to obtain mortgages for home buying or to use retail banking services in another EU country if they so choose.
With the growth of financial services and electronic commerce, the Commission has proposed guidelines for good on-line business practices and rules to cover all aspects of consumer credit and non-cash means of payment. Consumers’ interests and benefits are already factored into legislation to liberalise key public services like transport, electricity and gas, telecommunications and posts. The new laws ensure that the public continues to enjoy universal access to high quality services at affordable prices.
EU rules must be properly implemented and individuals able to obtain redress. This requires better cooperation between member states. Court proceedings, especially in another jurisdiction, can be costly and time-consuming. To encourage out-of-court settlements, the European Commission has developed no-cost or low-cost alternative dispute-settlement mechanisms.
In December 2007, the EU banned a series of unfair commercial practices. They include misleading advertising and aggressive selling practices like harassment, coercion and using undue influence. Uncertainty about their rights and fear of being ripped-off had made consumers wary of cross-border shopping. The new directive gives consumers the same protection from sharp business practices and rogue traders whether they buy from the shop around the corner or from a website in another EU country.
Consumers have other scope for redress such as the European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net).For details of the centre nearest you go to
http://ec.europa.eu/comm/consumers/redress/compl/.
