By Martin Banks - 8th February 2007
EU consumer groups today reacted cautiously to new European commission moves to improve public confidence in the digital age.
The commission green paper, published on 8 February, aims to review no less than eight directives on consumer protection which have become outdated.
Some date back 20 years and range from timeshare, package travel, sales and guarantees and door-to-door selling.
Meglena Kuneva, the new EU commissioner for consumer affairs, called for a “root and branch” review of consumer laws.
In her first news conference in Brussels, the Bulgarian official said that while consumer spending accounts for a total of 58 per cent of the EU’s GDP, only 6 per cent of consumers shop online.
"There is an urgent need for action," she said. "The world is moving so fast and Europe risks lagging behind."
"The question is can we afford to have 27 mini-online markets in Europe, denying consumers choice and competitive prices?"
"We need to inject a new sense of consumer confidence into the e-shopping world," she added.
The proposals for a review were given a cautious welcome by BEUC, the Brussels-based European consumers’ organisation, which represents over 40 groups.
"The green paper should lead to a better level of consumer protection, if the right choices and decisions are taken as a result of the review," said BEUC director Jim Murray.
"We hope this will draw attention to the extent to which the acquis is enforced, or not, by member states."
"We question, though, whether these results can be achieved by insisting on having the exact same rules everywhere," he added.
His comments were partly echoed by UK Conservative MEP Malcolm Harbour, EPP coordinator on parliament’s internal market committee.
"New market developments, fragmentation of rules and lack of consistency between various directives have made a review inevitable," he said.
"This is clear if you look at the statistics which show that 56 per cent of EU consumers are not confident in cross-border consumer protection."
"However, any new EU legislation must be based on minimum harmonisation and the principle of mutual recognition."
The green paper will be debated by the internal market committee in Strasbourg on Monday and voted upon in parliament later in the year.
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