Acquis Communautaire in defense of consumers

By the French term “Acquis Communautaire” it is meant the whole of EU norms. It is continuously evolving and is made:

• by the principles, the political objectives and the Treaties
• by the legislation adopted for the enforcement of Treaties and by the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice
• by the declarations and decisions adopted by the EU
• by the acts belonging to the foreign policy and the one on security
• by the acts belonging to justice and internal affairs
• by the international agreements signed by the EU and by those signed by member States among themselves in the fields that fall within the EU competence

Besides the community legislation itself, the “Acquis” is therefore constituted by the common objectives set up by the Treaties. The goal of the Member States is the effective implementation of the norms belonging to the Acquis Communautaire. Candidate Countries waiting to join the EU and new Member States have to accept the Acquis and to recipe EU norms into their national legislation. So, they are invited to strengthen their national administrations, their justice systems, to adapt their infrastructures in order to conform to community rules, mainly in the field of environment protection, transports, energy and telecommunications.

At present the Acquis consists of around 80.000 pages but is continuously evolving and increasing, since Member countries have to face new challenges and problems.

As for consumer protection, the Acquis Communautaire is under review. The EU Commission launched great consultation processes, studies and working groups to this purpose.