Consumer protection bodies and initiatives at EU level

The existence of an internal market, that is expected to get growing together with the enlargement of the EU, is obviously a chance for better and more choices in terms of products and services for citizens. However, the new dimension of Europe, though offering undeniable advantages, requires much more attention and a larger number of initiatives for the protection of consumers, in terms of quality and safety of products, goods’ guarantees, and fair and transparent contracts and information. Fortunately, Community Law has acknowledged such problems and activated a series of legal instruments to face them.

Here below a quick summary on how consumer protection is performed.

Articles 153 and 95 of the Treaty of Amsterdam (introducing the European Community) promote the interests, the health and the security of consumers. In particular, art. 153 has the objective of ensuring a high level of consumer protection, rather than simply contributing to such protection. Moreover, it emphasizes promoting the consumers' right to information and education and their right to organize themselves in order to safeguard their interests.

One of the objectives of the EU is to improve all citizens’ life quality, ensuring a basic level of health and security, allowing all citizens to understand the policies concerning them, and implementing a common environment that grants security and confidence to buyers beyond frontiers.  

The goals of the strategy for consumer policy (see the one for 2002-2006 and the proposal for 2007-2013) are usually to be implemented within a certain time. Those for 2002-2006 were: a high level of consumer protection, the implementation of certain laws for consumer protection, and the adequate participation of consumers’ unions to EU policies.

Various measures and directives have been introduced with the aim of preserving consumers’ interests with reference to the security of products in general, toys, electric apparels, cosmetics and medicines, and in relation to products’ guarantees, misleading and comparative advertising, restrictive and vexatious clauses in contracts, distance and door-to-door selling, timeshare contracts and travellers’ rights.

Consumer protection is not only granted by Legislation. As a matter of fact, there’s a General Directorate within the European Commission called SANCO. It is devoted to the promotion and preservation of the health and the security of consumers, through programmes for consume information and education, and through the support of consumers’ unions activities, in cooperation with other EU institutions, national governments and interest groups.

For further information about SANCO visit http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/index_en.htm.

On October 9 2003, the European Commission also created the European Consumer Consultative Group – ECCG (http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/cons_org/associations/committ/index_en.htm) substituting the previous Consumers' Consultative Committee. The European Commission can consult this Group on all matters regarding the protection of consumers’ interests within the EU. The Group is composed by a representative member of each national and European consumers’ union, and its aims are:

-          to create a general discussion forum on problems related to consumer protection;

-          to express opinions on community matters involving the protection of consumers’ interests;

-          to advise the Commission in the definition of policies having an impact on consumers’ interests;

-          to inform the Commission on the development of national consume laws.