Consumer Policy in the EU

Latest business news about Consumer Policy in the European Union

Consumer Policy supports the aims laid out in Articles 153 and 95 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, which promote the interests, health and safety of European consumers. It is designed to ensure that the internal market is open, fair and transparent, allowing consumers to exercise real choice, excluding rogue traders, and helping consumers and businesses take full advantage of the market’s potential.

FACT SHEETS

European Strategies and Programme

• EU Consumer Policy Strategy
• EU Consumer Policy Financial Programme

Consumer Rights and Safety

• European Standards
• Product Legislation
• Rapid Alert System for non-food consumer products
• General Contractual Rights

Useful Links

European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net)

Consumer Scene by Country

National Consumer Organisations

EU Consumer Contacts

LATEST NEWS

New EU organic logo set for Europe's supermarkets — 08 February 2010, 19:47 CET

The European Union on Monday unveiled a new Green logo that will have to be shown on all pre-packaged organic products produced in Europe from July.

Italy uncovers buffalo mozzarella fraud — 21 January 2010, 19:42 CET

Italy has placed producers of prized buffalo-milk mozzarella under watch after inspectors discovered traces of cow milk in samples of the product, the agriculture ministry said Thursday.

Consumer confidence edges up from low base: EU — 21 January 2010, 23:39 CET

The European Union on Thursday published a consumer confidence indicator for the first time, showing slight improvement in sentiment from a low base across the 16 countries that use the euro.

EU mobile phone rates drop, but still rich pickings: survey — 21 January 2010, 23:33 CET

An EU drive against high cross-border mobile telephone charges has halved prices, but operators are still making rich pickings and have raised charges in other regions, a survey found on Thursday.

European Commission DG Health and Consumers Contacts — 21 January 2010, 12:46 CET

Contacts of the European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Consumers.

Protection of video game users — 12 January 2010, 19:40 CET

Strong growth in the European video game market and the development of new media has increased the risk that consumers will be exposed to illegal or harmful content. The video game industry has introduced a self-regulatory video game rating system aimed particularly at the protection of minors.

Nutrition and health claims — 12 January 2010, 19:39 CET

Nutrition and health claims which encourage consumers to purchase a product, but are false, misleading or not scientifically proven are prohibited. The aim is to improve protection of consumers’ health and rights. European legislation has created a list of nutrition and health claims and the conditions for their authorisation which applies throughout the EU.

Labelling, presentation and advertising of foodstuffs — 12 January 2010, 19:40 CET

Pre-packaged foodstuffs must comply with compulsory harmonised EU standards on labelling and advertising. The details that must appear on packaging include the name under which the product is sold, a list of ingredients and quantities, potential allergens (products which may cause allergies), the minimum durability date and conditions for keeping.

Language use in consumer information — 12 January 2010, 19:39 CET

Language use is dealt with in various provisions of Community law. These provisions can be very strict, for example when it comes to potentially dangerous products. The legislation on language use aims to inform consumers properly and promote multilingual information, whilst guaranteeing Member States' freedom in language matters.

ECB reveals rise in fake euro seizures — 11 January 2010, 16:58 CET

The number of fake euro banknotes seized in the second half of 2009 was eight per cent higher than in the first six months, the ECB said on Monday, continuing a trend.

Protection of Geographical Indications and Designations of Origin — 11 January 2010, 18:05 CET

This Regulation establishes the rules for protecting designations of origin and geographical indications for agricultural products and foodstuffs intended for human consumption in the EU.

Euro economic confidence up: EU survey — 07 January 2010, 16:10 CET

European business and consumer confidence firmed in December for a ninth month running, an EU survey shows, with a big jump in key recession straggler Britain.

Common system of VAT (the 'VAT Directive') — 25 December 2009, 23:45 CET

This Directive codifies the provisions implementing the common system of VAT, which applies to the production and distribution of goods and services bought and sold for consumption within the European Community.

General rules: product safety — 16 December 2009, 00:11 CET

The general safety of products placed on the market is guaranteed by EU legislation, which ensures a consistent, high level of protection for the health and safety of consumers.

Unfair Commercial Practices — 16 December 2009, 00:10 CET

Unfair commercial practices by businesses in their relations with consumers will be prohibited throughout the EU. Unfair commercial practices comprise misleading and aggressive practices, and practices which use coercion as a means of selling.

General Principles of Food Law — 07 December 2009, 23:52 CET

The EU's legislation governing the general principles of food law and harmonised controls also underpins the European Food Safety Authority, a European agency which provides the scientific reference point for food-related control and evaluation.

Applications of Articles 81 and 82 of the EC Treaty — 07 December 2009, 23:51 CET

The new arrangements for applying the anti-trust procedures, which were introduced by Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, are designed to ensure more effective enforcement of the European Community competition rules in the interest of consumers and businesses, while easing the administrative burden of firms doing business in Europe. Via decentralised application of the competition rules and by strengthening a posteriori control, the Regulation will lighten the European Commission's workload and increase the part played by national authorities and courts in implementing competition law while guaranteeing its uniform application.

General principles of food law - European Food Safety Authority — 03 December 2009, 16:04 CET

The EU's legislation governing the general principles of food law and harmonised controls also underpins the European Food Safety Authority, a European agency which provides the scientific reference point for food-related control and evaluation.

Christmas Lights in the EU - briefing — 02 December 2009, 13:52 CET

30% of Christmas lights present an obvious and direct risk of fire and electric shocks according to a new report published today by the European Commission. The report presents the conclusions of a joint market surveillance project involving authorities from five EU Member States - Hungary, Germany, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Netherlands - as well as the European Commission. Testing was carried out between November 2007- May 2009 at different intervals on 196 random samples of lighting chains across the entire price range. The samples were checked against over 20 administrative and technical requirements. Many lighting chains failed multiple tests.

3 out of 10 Christmas lights unsafe, says EU — 03 December 2009, 12:04 CET

Almost a third of Christmas lights on sale across Europe are a fire hazard, presenting a "direct risk of fire and electric shocks", the European Commission warns.

Euro economic confidence up: EU survey — 27 November 2009, 12:18 CET

European business and consumer confidence firmed in November for an eighth month running, an EU survey showed on Friday, although it fell in key recession straggler Britain.

Half of Euro online travel purchases legally unsafe — 26 November 2009, 16:55 CET

More than half of all people who buy flights, hotel rooms and hire cars online risk being left without compensation if companies fail under outdated law, the EU said on Thursday.

EU bids to modernise travellers' consumer protection — 26 November 2009, 14:10 CET

Millions of travellers who book their own flight and hotel arrangements via the Internet need updated European Union protection against companies going bust, the European Commission said on Thursday.

EU shuts down ringtone scam sites targeting youngsters — 17 November 2009, 17:40 CET

EU countries have closed down over 50 Internet websites, following an 18 month consumer crackdown on mobile phone ringtone scams often targeting youngsters.

EU clean-up on ringtone scams - briefing — 17 November 2009, 16:08 CET

70% of websites investigated for mis-selling ringtones, wallpapers and other mobile phone services have been corrected or closed, following an 18 month EU consumer crackdown carried out by 27 Member States, Norway and Iceland. Since June 2008, when initial checks took place, 301 websites were investigated by national enforcement authorities for serious breaches of EU consumer law. 70% of the 301 cases investigated, have now been resolved. 52% (159 websites) have been corrected and 17% (54 websites) have closed. The three main problems found were: unclear pricing (for example, information was missing or incomplete); failure to provide complete trader information; and misleading advertising, in particular, advertising ringtones as "free" where the consumer is in fact tied into a paying subscription. In Italy, in February and May enforcement authorities, as a result of the sweep, imposed large fines of around 2 million Euro on 9 major companies found to be in breach of the law.