Annexes to COM(2012)225 - European Consumer Agenda - Boosting confidence and growth - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2012)225 - European Consumer Agenda - Boosting confidence and growth. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2012)225  |
| date | May 22, 2012 |
It is more essential than ever to ensure coherence and synergies across EU policies to enhance their positive impact on consumer spending, in particular in the key sectors of food, energy, transport and financial services, whilst promoting more sustainable patterns of consumption.
A recent snapshot taken by the European Commission of the 20 key concerns of citizens and businesses in the Single Market shows that consumers continue to be frustrated by their energy bills, find it difficult to defend their rights as passengers, and do not easily find their way in banking and financial services markets.[29]
To address these economic and societal issues, the Commission will work towards the following two specific objectives:
Ø 7. adapting consumer law to the digital age;
Ø 8. promoting sustainable growth and supporting consumer interests in key sectors.
A number of concrete steps will be taken before 2014 to achieve these specific objectives.
· Digital
A set of measures will be considered to tackle key problems faced by online users and make sure they are adequately protected when using and buying digital content. These may include standardising key information given to consumers to facilitate comparisons and initiatives to assess the need to ensure adequate EU-wide remedies for the purchase of faulty digital content and, if necessary, to harmonise digital trust marks.
The Commission will tackle persistent challenges related to territorially-focused copyright management and the current complex regime of private copying levies, which can have a negative impact on the availability of digital content across the EU and discourage the development of innovative, online business models. The Commission will table a legislative proposal on collective rights management in 2012 and has launched a stakeholders’ dialogue on private copying and reprography levies under the responsibility of a mediator. The results of this dialogue will be used to make recommendations for possible legislative action at EU level. The Commission will also work on addressing specific challenges regarding copyright and the availability of audiovisual content and broadcasting services in view of evolving technology, notably to stimulate cross-border services.
As part of its work to report on the functioning of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Commission will assess in 2012 whether the current rules aimed at protecting children from misleading advertising, also in the digital environment, need to be enforced better. It will continue to focus on the specific situation of minors buying or using digital content online.
The Commission will aim to make commercial interaction more reliable for both consumers and traders by proposing, in 2012, a legislative framework for electronic identification, authentication and signatures. It will set out minimum requirements for information on website localisation and on the legal existence of its owner, to guarantee the authenticity of the website. The Commission will also take full account of consumer interests as part of its forthcoming policy proposals on cloud computing.
Based on the feedback to its January 2012 Green Paper on card, internet and mobile payments public consultation, the Commission plans to come forward with concrete proposals during the first quarter of 2013. The Commission is also preparing a Green Paper on parcel delivery, with adoption forecast in the last quarter of 2012.
A Communication on online gambling will be presented in 2012, aimed among other things at improving the protection of consumers and citizens, including vulnerable groups and minors.
· Financial services
As part of its work to report in 2012 on the functioning of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, the Commission will assess the need to strengthen the current rules aimed at combating unfair practices in the financial services sector or step up enforcement, also with regard to vulnerable consumers.
The Commission plans to adopt legislative proposals on Packaged Retail Investment Products to ensure that retail investors are provided with a short, clear and understandable key information document to help them to take informed investment decisions. It will also review the Insurance Mediation Directive, which regulates selling processes for insurance products.
The Commission will evaluate the implementation of the Consumer Credit Directive, with a focus on whether it works well for consumers and whether issues, such as smaller loans, deferred debit or responsible lending, which are mainly left for Member States’ discretion, need to be revisited. This is especially important for vulnerable consumers.
In this context, households’ over-indebtedness is also worrying. A specific study will be launched in early 2012 to take a snapshot of the situation and list the best practices in force to alleviate its impact.
Consumers need to be aware of the fees they pay for basic banking services and be able to switch easily between banks if competition is to be ensured in retail banking. As a result, the Commission will prepare a legislative initiative in 2012 that will encompass these issues related to bank accounts, which are at the heart of consumers’ basic needs when managing their finances.
· Food
Following the adoption of the Regulation on the provision of food information to consumers,[30] the Commission will promote the application of the new rules and explore the need for new initiatives. This is particularly relevant to the labelling of food origin and the labelling of alcoholic beverages.
The ongoing implementation of the Regulation on nutrition and health claims[31] will ensure that all claims relating to a beneficial nutritional or health effect of foods are based on science and are not misleading for consumers. It will also guarantee the free movement of foodstuffs with nutritional and health claims that comply with this Regulation.
The Commission will look into the issue of sustainable food, notably the issue of food waste. Action targeted at consumers to prevent household food waste will be included and will need to be complemented by action targeting other links in the food chain (farmers, retailers, food producers etc.) to be effective.
· Energy
The Commission will take further action to improve competition and particularly price transparency in electricity and gas in order to make offers by energy companies more understandable to consumers. The forthcoming implementation of the new Energy Efficiency Directive will increase consumer rights to information through more transparent rules on accurate metering and clear, timely billing based on actual individual consumption of all energy sources, including centralised heating, cooling and domestic hot water.
Furthermore, the Commission intends to improve the information available to consumers on how to better manage their domestic energy consumption and encourage them to use technology, both existing (such as mobile phone enabled real consumption-based billing) and emerging (such as smart meters) to their benefit. To this end, guidelines on price transparency in the retail energy market will be developed in coordination with regulators and stakeholders.
Further specific action on smart meters and technology use by consumers will be developed by the Commission-led Smart Grids Task Force.
The Energy Labelling Directive will also be reviewed in 2014. In the meantime, the Commission will propose implementing its extension online, significantly increasing its impact.[32]
· Travel and Transport
By early 2013, the Commission will propose an updated Package Travel Directive, taking into account recent developments in the travel market. In particular, the reform will take account of the increasing trend of travellers purchasing so-called ‘dynamic packages’ online rather than traditional pre-arranged travel packages.[33] In addition, in 2013, the existing rules on Air Passenger Rights, which protect travellers in the event of denied boarding, long delay and cancellation, will be updated.
On urban mobility, the Commission will hold a dialogue with stakeholders to identify EU-wide best practices and conditions for strengthening passenger rights in public transport.[34] The Commission will also present, by 2014, specific measures designed, amongst others, to promote consumer awareness of the availability of alternatives to private vehicles.
The Commission will make a proposal in 2013 to review the CO2 car labelling rules to bring consumer information up to date. It will also take steps to develop an alternative fuel strategy to support consumer choice for cleaner fuels[35] and to improve consumer information on new transport fuels.[36]
· Sustainable products
To achieve sustainable growth underpinned by sustainable consumption, the Commission will consider taking measures to make consumer goods more durable, including support for repair and maintenance services. It will assess ways to improve the availability and affordability of more sustainable products through appropriate incentive schemes or voluntary action.
The Commission will develop harmonised methodologies to assess the life-cycle environmental performance of products and companies as a basis for providing reliable information to consumers.
Furthermore, the Eco-design Directive, which sets minimum environmental requirements for products, will gradually cover a growing number of products under the second Ecodesign Working Plan and, where appropriate, will address energy consumption and other significant environmental impacts of products.
5. Conclusions
This European Consumer Agenda lays down a comprehensive policy framework designed to put consumers at the heart of the Single Market, as they are key to growth in the EU. It covers the action that this Commission plans to take during its mandate to benefit consumers.
All measures take into account the changes in consumption patterns observed on the ground, technological progress, fast moving markets, the need to empower consumers and ensure that they can exercise their rights effectively.
To meet the main objectives of this Agenda in the most effective way and minimise administrative burden, any policy action must be solidly based on evidence on how markets work in practice and how consumers behave. Proposals to revise existing EU rules will be underpinned by evaluations of the legislation currently in force and by rigorous analysis of the expected impacts.
The measures announced in this Agenda will be also supported by continuously updated sources of key information, such as the Consumer Markets Scoreboard, consumer market rankings and the Consumer Conditions Scoreboards, benchmarking the consumer environment in Member States and tracking progress in the integration of retail markets. This will be complemented by market studies analysing the reasons behind market malfunctions and consumer behavioural studies. The consumer focus will also extend to research financed under the 2020 programmes.
Efforts will be made to ensure that the proposed policy action is pre-tested against the eight specific objectives of this Agenda to ensure greater impact and a better up-take by consumers, while avoiding unnecessary burden on businesses.
The trends observed over the next couple of years will help identify any additional action to take after 2014. Progress in meeting the objectives set out in this Agenda will be monitored by the Commission’s report on the integration of consumer interests into EU policies.
This Agenda seeks to respond to the challenges of unleashing growth and restoring confidence in the European economy by enhancing consumer empowerment and creating policy synergies. To achieve durable results, a determined commitment by the whole chain of actors implementing this Consumer Agenda is needed — at EU, national and international level. Only smart and sustainable demand by consumers matched with fair supply will make a contribution to putting the EU back on the path for growth.
[1] ‘Confident consumers create thriving markets. Building on this autumn’s work, the next work programme will announce measures to strengthen consumer rights, including in electronic and cross-border transactions and effectively address health and safety-related matters, thus improving citizens’ security, while underpinning demand in the Single Market.’ See letter of President Barroso to President Buzek, September 2011.
[2] EU Citizenship Report COM(2010) 603 final; Single Market Act COM(2011) 206 final; A Digital Agenda for Europe COM(2010) 245 final/2; E-commerce Communication COM(2011) 942; Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe COM(2011) 571 final.
[3] Proposal for a Regulation establishing the EU framework programme for research and innovation (COM(2011) 809 final).
[4] These sectors were identified as some of the most problematic for consumers, according to the Consumer Markets Scoreboard.
[5] See ‘Delivering an area of freedom, security and justice for Europe’s citizens — Action Plan Implementing the Stockholm Programme’ COM(2010) 171.
[6] Proposal for a Regulation on agricultural product quality schemes (COM(2010) 733 final), Proposal for a Regulation establishing marketing standards (COM(2010) 738 final) guidelines on certification schemes and on food labelling.
[7] Proposal for a Regulation on roaming on public mobile communications networks within the Union (COM(2011) 402 final).
[8] Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (COM(2011) 635 final).
[9] Proposal for a Directive on consumer ADR (COM(2011) 793/2), Proposal for a Regulation on consumer ODR (C(2011) 794/2).
[10] Proposal for a Regulation on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (COM(2012) 11 final), Proposal for a Directive on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences or the execution of criminal penalties, and the free movement of such data (COM(2012) 10 final).
[11] Commission Staff Working Paper ‘Bringing e-commerce benefits to consumers’, Annex 2 to the 2012 E-commerce Communication.
[12] Resource Efficiency Roadmap, COM(2011) 571.
[13] Consumer Empowerment survey; Eurobarometer No 342; 2010.
[14] Idem.
[15] COM(2009) 330 final.
[16] See more in the study ‘The functioning of the retail electricity markets for consumers in the EU’ http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/consumer_research/market_studies/docs/retail_electricity_full_study_en.pdf .
[17] Communication from the Commission ‘Energy efficiency: delivering the 20 % target’.
[18] In the EU, the total amount of food waste is about 90 million tonnes or 180 kg per capita per year, and these figures are expected to rise by 40 % by 2020. See the EU-funded ‘Preparatory study on food waste across EU 27’, BIO IS December 2009 — October 2010.
[19]http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/common/publications/info_docs/customs/product_safety/guidelines_en.pdf.
[20] http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope.
[21] http://ec.europa.eu/eyouguide.
[22] As announced in the Digital Agenda for Europe.
[23] OJ L 174 of 27.6.2001, p. 25, and L 168 of 30.6.2009, p. 35.
[24] https://e-justice.europa.eu.
[25] Directive 2005/29/EC.
[26] 2011/442/EU: Commission Recommendation of 18 July 2011 on access to a basic payment account.
[27] Directive 2005/29/EC.
[28] European Parliament Resolution of 2 February 2012 on ‘Towards a Coherent European Approach to Collective Redress’ — P7_TA(2012)0021.
[29] SEC(2011) 1003 final.
[30] Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011.
[31] Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006.
[32] Consumer 2020 http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=6782.
[33] Dynamic package is a travel product whereby at least two different travel services (transport, accommodation and/or another tourist services) for a single trip are offered or sold in a combination, at the same time from the same supplier or from suppliers that are commercially linked and whereby the buyer can combine and customise the content of the package according to his/her preferences.
[34] Action Plan on Urban Mobility; COM(2011) 144. White Paper. ‘Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area — Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system’.
[35] COM(2011) 144, White Paper ‘Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area — Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system’.
[36] Based on the needs identified in the context of the CARS 21 process.