Consumer protection in the EU

1 IN-DEPTH ANALYSISEPRS | European Parliamentary Research ServiceAuthor:Jana ValantMembers' Research ServiceSeptember2015 intheEUPolicy overviewThisdocumentseeksto provide an overview of Consumer protection policy, focusing on the generalprinciples(competences of the European Union,legal baseand definitionof the notion of Consumer ).Itexaminesthe tools available toensure the protection ofconsumersin the legally bindingtools consist of around 90 directives and a few regulations. Othersupplementarytools to monitor andimprove theprotection of consumers within the EU marketincludeconsumer scoreboards, marketstudies and behavioural studies commissioned by the European Commission, awareness-raising andinformation campaigns within the European Consumer Centres networkand the work oftheEuropeanJudicial aim of thedocumentistopresentkey EU policy areas related to consumerprotection,tohighlightpast improvements and success stories.

2 Andtoidentifyshortcomingsandfuture policy 978-92-823-7554-9doi: manuscript, inEnglish,completed content of this document is the sole responsibility of the author and any opinionsexpressed therein do not necessarily represent the official position of the European is addressed to the Members and staff of the EP for their parliamentary work. Reproductionand translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised, provided the sourceisacknowledged and the European Parliament is given prior notice and sent a copy.

3 European Union, credits: protection in the EUPage1of21 EXECUTIVE SUMMARYT hefinal consumption expenditure of householdscurrentlyaccounts for 57% of EUgross domestic market that serves consumers wellisthereforeanimportant element tostimulatingEurope'seconomic Resolution of 14 April 1975on a preliminary programme of the EuropeanEconomic Communityfor a Consumer protection and information policy constituted theformal inauguration of Consumer protection policyat EU time, Consumer policyhas become one of the mosttransversalEUpolicies, covering product safety, digitalmarket, financialservices, foodsafetyand labelling, energy, travel and years it has shifted from the technical harmonisation of standards to therecognition of Consumer protection as part of the effort to establish a 'Europe forcitizens'.

4 Currently, the programme of EU action in the field of Consumer policyis based on twomeasures: theEuropean Consumer Agenda,which is the new strategy for EU consumerpolicy in line with the EU's growth strategy Europe 2020 and theconsumerprogramme 2014-20 the financial framework complementing the strategy. Theconsumer agendahasfour mainobjectives:improving Consumer safety;enhancingknowledge;improving implementation, stepping up enforcement and securingredressas well asaligning rights and key policies to economic and societal ,the question of potentially changing the current instrument ofharmonisationatEU level the directive are somesuccess stories, such assignificantlowering of roaming chargesin recentyears,openconsumer protectionrelatedissuesstillexist, for examplein relation todata protection .

5 As well asregardingthe negotiations onaTransatlantic Trade and InvestmentPartnership (TTIP)with theUnited addition,a number offuture challengesremain, such asdefiningtheevolving conceptofprosumersandprotecting consumers fromthenew practices ofcollaborative economyas well as adaptingthe policytotechnological protection in the EUPage2of21 TABLE OF CONTENTS1. General Legal The notion of Tools protecting the EU Tools to assess, monitor and improve the protection of Market monitoring Awareness-raising Tools for stepping up enforcement and securing Key EU policy areas related to Consumer Product Digital Financial Food safety and Travel.

6 Leisure and Past improvements of Consumer protection in the EU and its Success Weak The challenges of behavioural Policy Consumer protection and European Commission Future challenges of the collaborative The concept of 'prosumers'.. European Consumer protection concerns regarding Transatlantic Trade and Investmentpartnership (TTIP)..205. Further protection in the principlesThe aim ofEuropean Consumer policyis to make the European Union(EU)a tangiblereality for 500million citizens by guaranteeing their rights as consumers.

7 That meansprotecting consumers from serious risks and threats that they are unable to tackle asindividuals;empoweringthem to make choices based on accurate, clear and consistentinformation;enhancing their welfare and effectively protecting their safety as well astheir economic is to be achieved byaligning consumerrights and policiesto changes in society and legislation adoptedatEU levelaims primarilytoprotectthesafety, health, economicandlegal interestsof consumers,as well asofferingredressandgeneral product safety to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union(TFEU)

8 ,consumerprotectionissues are a shared competence of the EU and Member EUlegislation in this domain is adopted through the ordinary legislative procedure, theMemberStates areresponsible forimplementing andenforcing the EU , the final consumption expenditure of households accounts for 57% of EUgross domestic Consumer policy strategy for the period 2014-20 is definedintheEuropeanConsumerAgenda,2whic h is complemented,in itsfinancial aspects, bytheConsumer Consumer programme(2014-20)foresees a budget of (corresponding to around Consumer per year).

9 BasisArticles 4(2)(f), 12, 114(3) and 169 of TFEU and Article 38 of the Charter ofFundamental Rights of the European Union constitutetheprimary lawforconsumerprotection policy. Article 169 TFEU definesspecific objectives of the policy:In order to promote the interests of consumers and to ensure a high level of consumerprotection, the Union shall contribute to protecting thehealth, safety and economicinterestsof consumers, as well as to promoting theirright to information, educationand to organise themselves in order to safeguard their 169supplementsArticle 114of theTFEU, which indicatesthat in its proposalsconcerning health, safety.

10 Environmental protection and Consumer protection theCommission will take asabase a high level of theTFEU alsostates that EU measures shall not prevent any Member State from maintaining orintroducing more stringent protective measuresprovided thatthey are compatiblewith the this wayEU law providesa common basiclevel of protection to allconsumers residing in the , Article 12 TFEU clarifies that consumerprotection requirements must be taken into account in defining and implementingother Union policies and activities, while Article 38 of the Charter of Fundamental1 Consumer Markets Scoreboard.