10 The single market: second consumer
scoreboard
| (30420)
6066/09
COM(09) 25
+ ADD 1
+ ADD 2
+ ADD 3
| Commission Communication: Monitoring consumer outcomes in the single Market: second edition of the consumer markets scoreboard
Commission staff working document: part 1 — key indicators of market performance
Commission staff working document: part 2 — integration of the retail internal market
Commission staff working document: part 3 — enforcement of consumer protection and empowerment of consumers
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 28 January 2009
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| Deposited in Parliament | 6 February 2009
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| Department | Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 20 February 2009
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
10.1 In January 2008, the Commission issued a Communication announcing
its intention to publish "consumer scoreboards" based
on indicators which would help identify which parts of the internal
market are not functioning well for consumers.[37]
The Commission stressed that the indicators needed development
and that some of the information required to identify potential
defects and make comparisons was not yet available. With that
caveat, the Communication provided the first consumer scoreboard.
The document
10.2 The document provides the Commission's second scoreboard.
It is in three parts (each of which is supported by detailed information
in the staff working documents, ADDs 1-3):
- screening consumer markets;
- tracking the progress of cross-border retail
trade; and
- benchmarking national consumer policies.
10.3 The Commission has used the following five indicators
to screen retail markets:
- customer complaints;
- prices;
- customer satisfaction;
- consumer switching between products; and
- safety.
10.4 For part 2, the Commission has used information
about the extent of cross-border retail trade and about the attitudes
of consumers and retailers to cross-border buying and selling.
10.5 For part 3, the Commission has used the following
"benchmarks" to help understand the consumer environment
in each Member State:
- enforcement (for example, the
percentage of consumers who trust public authorities to protect
their rights as consumers);
- product safety (for example, percentages of retailers
and consumers who think a significant number of products are unsafe);
- complaints (for example, percentage of consumers
who made a complaint to a retailer and percentage who were satisfied
with the handling of their complaint);
- redress (for example, percentage of consumers
who found it easy to resolve complaints through the courts or
alternative dispute resolution systems);
- switching (for example, percentage of consumers
who switched service providers);
- consumer rights (for example, percentage of consumers
who tried to return a good or cancel a contract within the cooling-off
period when purchasing by internet, post or telephone); and
- consumer organisations (for example, percentage
of consumers who trust consumer organisations to protect their
interests).
10.6 The main findings of the second consumer scoreboard
are as follows:
- consumers are less satisfied
with services than with goods;
- the sectors with which consumers have lowest
satisfaction rates are gas, electricity, bus, rail and fixed telephony;
- there are high volumes of complaints about transport,
telecommunications services, postal services, banking services
and insurance;
- only 9% of users of current bank accounts, 7%
of consumers of gas and 8% of electricity consumers switched providers
whereas 25% of consumers changed car insurers;
- making it easy for consumers to switch providers
should be a policy priority in the most important retail services;
- there are cross-border obstacles to e-commerce;
- there are major differences in the extent to
which Member States enforce consumers' rights and ensure that
effective redress is available; and
- about half of European consumers who made a complaint
were not satisfied with the way it was dealt with — only
three in ten found it easy to resolve complaints through the courts
and only four in ten found it easy to resolve them through alternative
dispute resolution procedures (ADR).
10.7 ADD 3 contains, for each Member State, statistics
about the enforcement of consumer protection and the empowerment
of consumers. Commenting on the statistics for the UK, ADD 3 says
that:
- in the UK, trust in the consumer
system and institutions is higher than the EU-27 average;
- two thirds of UK consumers feel adequately protected
by existing measures and trust public authorities to protect their
rights;
- 77% trust sellers and providers to respect their
rights;
- 8% of consumers and 7% of retailers in the UK
think a significant numbers of products are unsafe — among
the fewest in the EU;
- almost a quarter of UK consumers made a complaint
to a supplier in the previous 12 months — a higher proportion
of consumers complained only in Sweden and Holland;
- 52% of UK consumers found it "relatively"
easy to resolve disputes with suppliers through ADR and 40% through
the courts — both figures are better than the EU-27 average;
and
- public funding of consumer organisations in the
UK is the second highest in the EU, exceeded only by Luxembourg.
The Government's view
10.8 The Minister for Trade, Investment and Consumer
Affairs at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory
Reform (Mr Gareth Thomas) tells us that the Communication has
no financial, legal or policy implications for the UK; but the
Government welcomes the Commission's efforts to identify where
the internal market is not working well for consumers. While the
statistics about the UK are positive, more needs to be done to
improve consumers' awareness of their rights. The Government is
glad that the Commission intends to examine obstacles to cross-border
e-commerce as part of its study of the retail market.
Conclusion
10.9 The Commission's second consumer scoreboard
provides useful evidence for the development of EU policy on consumer
protection and the internal market. The three Commission staff
working documents (ADDs 1-3) contain a wealth of comparative data
about consumers' perceptions and Member States' consumer protection
arrangements. The Communication makes no proposals and is for
information only. While we see no need to keep the document under
scrutiny, we draw it to the attention of the House because of
the political importance of the subject.
37 (29422) 5942/08: see HC 16-xiv (2007-08), chapter
7 (5 March 2008). Back
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