E-commerce – Image by Varun
(BRUSSELS) – The EU Council and Parliament reached preliminary agreement Wednesday to strengthen cooperation between EU national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws.
The agreement, still to be endorsed by the Council and the Parliament, aims at modernising cooperation mechanisms to further reduce the harm caused to consumers by cross-border infringements to EU consumer law.
The new rules introduce a quick and more efficient cross-border cooperation mechanism between the national enforcers. They will have faster tools to react in a joint action when illegal practices are reported by consumers in at least two thirds of the EU countries.
“Strengthened cross-border enforcement is crucial in the digital age where harmful practices can be replicated easily in many countries with just one click,” said Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova.
This revision of the existing Consumer Protection Cooperation framework gives more powers to national authorities, particularly in the context of the digital single market.
In case of EU-wide breaches of consumer rights, national enforcement authorities and the Commission will coordinate their action to stop these practices, in particular in cases of widespread infringements with an EU-dimension which are likely to harm consumers across a large part of the Union.
Ineffective enforcement of cross-border infringements, in particular in the digital environment, enables traders to evade enforcement by relocating within the Union, giving rise to a distortion of competition for law-abiding traders operating either domestically or cross-border, and directly harming consumers and undermining consumer confidence in the single market.
An increased level of harmonisation setting effective and efficient enforcement cooperation among public enforcement authorities is therefore necessary to detect, investigate and stop intra-Union infringements and widespread infringements.
In order to further harmonise practices across the EU, the new regulation will set out a number of minimum investigation and enforcement powers that every national competent authority will have to be able to exercise in order to coordinate properly in the fight against infringements.
These powers will strike a balance between the interests protected by fundamental rights such as a high level of consumer protection, the freedom to conduct business and freedom of information.
The mutual assistance mechanism between administrations will be strengthened to establish whether an intra-EU infringement has occurred and to bring about the cessation of that infringement.
An improved alert mechanism will allow a competent authority to notify without delay the Commission and other competent authorities of any reasonable suspicion that an intra-Union infringement or widespread infringement is taking place on its territory that may affect consumers’ interests in other member states.
Competent authorities will also be able to open investigations on their own initiative if they become aware of intra-Union infringements or widespread infringements by means other than individual consumer complaints.
Further details are available in the factsheet
