14 Consumer protection
| (28471)
7503/07
COM(07) 99
+ ADD 1
+ ADD 2
| Commission Communication: EU Consumer Policy Strategy 2007-13 — empowering consumers, enhancing their welfare, effectively protecting them
Commission staff working document: evaluation of consumer policy strategy 2002-06
Commission staff working document: summary of impact assessment of the strategy for 2007-13
|
| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 13 March 2007
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 20 March 2007
|
| Department | Trade and Industry
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 11 April 2007
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | May 2007
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared but further information requested
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Background
14.1 Article 153 of the EC Treaty provides that:
"In order to promote the interests of consumers and to
ensure a high level of consumer protection, the Community shall
contribute to protecting the health, safety and economic interests
of consumers, as well as to promoting their right to information,
education and to organise themselves in order to safeguard their
interests."
The Article requires the Community to achieve these objectives
through measures under Article 95 of the Treaty to complete the
internal market and measures to support, supplement and monitor
the policies of Member States. Member States may maintain or introduce
their own, more stringent measures to protect consumers.
14.2 The Community has had a consumer protection programme since
1999. The programme's budget for 2004 until the end of 2007 was
€72 million.
14.3 Last year, the Council and the European Parliament adopted
a Decision to establish a consumer protection programme for the
period from the beginning of 2007 until the end of 2013, with
a total budget of €156.8 million.[42]
Article 2(2) of the Decision states that the objectives of the
programme are:
"(a) to ensure a high level of consumer protection, notably
through improved evidence, better consultation and better representation
of consumers' interests;
(b) to ensure the effective application of consumer protection
rules, in particular through enforcement cooperation, information,
education and redress."
The Commission's strategy for 2007-13
14.4 The Communication sets out the Commission's "vision"
for the Community's consumer policy in support of the objectives
of Article 153 of the EC Treaty and the new consumer protection
programme.
14.5 The Commission sees consumers and consumer policy as having
a crucial part to play in the achievement of the Lisbon goals
for economic growth and jobs and in the next stage of the development
of the internal market. It says that the EC has the potential
to be the largest retail market in the world but that, at present,
the internal market "remains largely fragmented along national
lines, forming 27 mini-markets instead".[43]
In 2006, 27% of all EU consumers made a purchase through eCommerce
but only 6% of them made a purchase from another Member State.
This is said to reflect consumers' lack of confidence in cross-border
shopping. There are also other obstacles to competition and innovation
in the single market, such as unjustified national product requirements
which are more onerous than those of the EC product directives.
14.6 The Commission proposes three main objectives for EC consumer
policy between 2007-13:
· empowering
consumers by ensuring
they have accurate information, effective protection and rights
of redress;
· enhancing
consumers' welfare in
terms of price, quality, affordability and safety; and
· protecting
consumers from serious
risks that they cannot tackle as individuals.
14.7 The Commission says that, in order to attain
these objectives, EC consumer policy should concentrate on the
following priorities:
· better
monitoring of markets and national consumer policies;
· better
consumer protection regulation;
· better
enforcement and redress;
· better
informed consumers;
· "putting
consumers at the heart of other EU policies and regulation".
14.8 The Communication goes on to outline the action
the Commission proposes under each of those headings. For example,
it intends to:
·
improve the statistical information on cross-border trade, prices
and customer complaints;
· use
the EC's 7th R&D Framework Programme to finance research into
matters affecting consumers' interests, such as product safety;
· develop
benchmarks to help monitor national consumer policies.
· propose
legislation in 2008, in the light of the comments on the Commission's
Green Paper on the review of the consumer acquis,[44]
to modernise, simplify and improve the Community's consumer protection
directives;
· later
this year, propose amendments to the Timeshare Directive[45]
and report on the operation of the Directives on distance-marketing
of consumer financial services[46]
and on general product safety;[47]
and
· continue
to co-finance the European consumer organisations.
14.9 The Commission says that its:
"vision is to be able to demonstrate to
all EU citizens by 2013 that they can shop from anywhere in the
EU, from corner-shop to website, confident they are equally effectively
protected; and to be able to demonstrate to all retailers that
they can sell anywhere on the basis of a single, simple set of
rules."[48]
14.10 One of the annexes to the Communication (ADD
1) contains an evaluation of the EC's consumer policy strategy
for 2002-06. It is in three parts. The first summarises the findings
of a report on the EC strategy's effect on national consumer policies;
it found that the effects had been patchy and that some EC initiatives
had more influence than others. The second part (with supporting
annexes) contains a detailed list of the action the Commission
initiated on consumer protection in 2002-06. It does not comment
on the impact or effectiveness of the action. The third part is
also descriptive and gives an overview of consumer participation
in Commission consultative committees and working groups.
The Government's view
14.11 The Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign
Affairs at the Department of Trade and Industry (Mr Ian McCartney)
tells us that the Government welcomes the Commission's Communication.
He says that it focuses on many of the UK's priorities for EC
action. The Minister attaches to his Explanatory Memorandum a
paper the DTI issued in January, entitled "UK Reflections
on an EU Consumer Strategy". He says that the paper:
"set out areas where we feel appropriate
action can be taken at EU level to promote the benefits of competitive
markets and innovation to consumers, backed up by effective and
proportionate enforcement. This paper was influential in the drafting
of the [Commission's] strategy and we are pleased that many of
the key themes and priorities are present in this strategy."
14.12 The Minister also tells us that the intention
is to agree the strategy by a Resolution of the Employment Council
on 30-31 May, "although there may be disagreement that this
is the appropriate Council".
Conclusion
14.13 We recognise that EC consumer policy can
provide a valuable stimulus to competition and innovation in the
internal market. We welcome the Commission's aim for 2013: an
internal market in which consumers can make cross-border purchases
with confidence and in which retailers can compete fairly and
without facing unjustified obstacles.
14.14 The Communication outlines the action the
Commission intends to take to achieve these ambitions, such as
a revised Timeshare Directive. We shall scrutinise each measure
in detail when it is presented. Meanwhile, it would be premature
for us to comment on the individual proposals.
14.15 We consider it essential that the results
of all EC policies are evaluated. We regret, therefore, that the
evaluation of the consumer policy strategy for 2002-06 is largely
descriptive and does not provide an analysis of the effectiveness
of the initiatives.
14.16 We see no need to keep the Communication
under scrutiny but we should be grateful if the Minister would
tell us about the Council's discussion of the strategy.
42 Decision No. 1926/2006/EC: OJ No. L 404, 30.12.06,
p.39. See (27540) 9909/06: HC 34-xxxvi (2005-06), para 17 (19
July 2006). Back
43
Commission Communication, page 2, last paragraph. Back
44
(28372) 6307/07: see HC 41-xii (200-07), para 11 (7 March). Back
45
Directive 94/47/EC: OJ No. L 280, 29.10.94, p. 83. Back
46
Directive 2002/65/EC: OJ No. L 271, 9.10.02, p.16. Back
47
Directive 2001/95/EC: OJ No. L 11, 15.1.02, p.4. Back
48
Commission Communication, page 13, penultimate paragraph. Back
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