Activites

• 2004/03/10 Final act published in Official Journal
• 2003/03/13 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0101/2003 summary

    The European Parliament passed a resolution drafted by Beatrice PATRIE (PES, France) on the Commission's Green Paper. (Please refer to the document dated 28/11/02.) Parliament also made some remarks on the concept of unfair behaviour, stating that it should include any commercial behaviour aimed at exploiting temporary or permanent physical or mental vulnerability arising, for example, from the age, infirmity, mental state, or low level of literacy of a consumer or a consumer group. Any commercial behaviour constituting physical or psychological coercion, and in particular harassment or intimidation, the use of threats or force and obstructive behaviour (such as the practice of making it difficult for consumers to change service providers) should also be deemed unfair behaviour.�

• 2002/11/28 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0423/2002
• 2002/07/01 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2001/10/02 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2001)0531 summary

    PURPOSE : to present a Green Paper on European Union Consumer Protection which aims to open a public debate on the future direction of EU consumer protection. CONTENT : the European Commission has adopted a this Green Paper on fair trading practices, addressing the key issues of consumer protection. The Green Paper aims to stimulate a wide debate on options to improve the functioning of the business-to-consumer (B2C) Internal Market. It sets out two main strategic options for the future development of EU regulation of B2C commercial practices. The first option is a strategy based on further harmonisation addressing specific issues and to continue the approach of the last two decades. The second option is based on complementing specific legislative measures with a framework directive covering B2C commercial practices. The paper also seeks views on priority areas for harmonisation and on the various options for a possible framework directive. In addition, it equally sets out options for ensuring and improving enforcement of consumer protection rules. The Commission wants to stimulate a wide debate on options to improve the functioning of the "business-to-consumer" (B2C) Internal Market. While the business-to-business (B2B) Internal Market is fairly well-developed, the potential of B2C Internal Market is not fully realised as indicated by the large divergences in prices of consumer goods between Member States and the limited volume of cross-border shopping. In short, the cross-border offer of consumer goods is insufficient. Consumers lack the confidence to take up the offers that do exist and businesses hesitate to directly offer their goods EU-wide because of the wide differences in national consumer protection rules and the limited scope of EU consumer protection legislation. The existing EU rules are not adequate to the challenge. They cover only a limited number of commercial practices, are often out-dated and lagging behind new market developments, and often designed to address one specific problem consumers were confronted with, such as for example the package travel or timeshare directives. There are many national rules and a wealth of national jurisprudence to protect consumers. The problem lies in their diversity. Consumers do not necessarily have the same rights in one Member State than in another. In addition, there currently is no formal framework for co-operation between the bodies enforcing consumer rights in the Member States. The main choice in the Green Paper is between: - a strategy based on further harmonisation addressing specific issues - a continuation of the past strategy - and - a strategy based on setting out core principles of consumer protection in a framework directive to complement specific legislative measures. The paper also seeks views on priority areas for harmonisation and on the various aspects of the possible framework directive. It also sets out options for ensuring and improving enforcement of consumer protection rules. The Green Paper sets out some ideas for the use of self-regulatory codes, but within a legislative framework. A legal backup to codes of conduct is necessary so that firms who break the rules are punished and consumers can be more certain they are respected. Business organisations that have experience with codes of conduct have said so explicitly themselves. The aim of a framework would be to ensure good practice (either based on fairness or non-misleading practices) in B2C commercial practices. There may be reasons for wanting to regulate these commercial practices in further detail, but that would be outside the scope of a framework directive. For example, a framework directive would not include rules concerning health and safety (like tobacco or alcohol advertising) or decency. Equally it would not aim to cover pure social policy aspects, such as shop opening hours. Practices regulated by national contract law will not be covered, leaving national laws which invalidate a contract or establish rules on redress unaffected. The Commission's recent Green Paper on contract law addresses this. A framework directive would supplement sector specific provisions and apply to aspects which are not regulated by such legislation. This is the central question for consultation. The Green Paper offers a choice between the concepts of "fair commercial practices" or "misleading and deceptive practices". Both concepts have some basis in existing EU law, notably in the misleading advertising directive and the unfair contract terms directive. The concept of fair commercial practices, is broader than the misleading and deceptive practices concept. It covers the principle of good faith in the pre-contractual phase (e.g. disclosure of material information). For the post-contractual phase, it covers unfair and dishonest practices (e.g. those which unfairly deter consumers from switching suppliers would be targeted). The Green Paper on EU consumer protection presents new ideas for the use of self-regulatory codes within a legislative framework. A framework directive establishing EU-wide principles for fair trading practices would be adaptable and responsive to changes in market practices - allowing to tackle new unfair practices, such as those in the online world, quickly. It would however not include rules concerning health and safety (i.e. tobacco or alcohol advertising) or decency, or social policy issues such as shop opening hours. Although a framework could cover all commercial practices, specific legislation may still be needed to regulate specific practices or sectors in more detail. If the second option were chosen; one of the key questions for the consultation would be the scope of the directive. The Green Paper offers a choice between the concepts of "fair commercial practices" or "misleading and deceptive practices". Both concepts have some basis in existing EU law, notably in the misleading advertising Directive and the unfair contract terms Directive. The concept of fair commercial practices is broader than the concept of misleading and deceptive practices. It covers the principle of good faith in the pre-contractual phase, e.g. the disclosure of material information or high-pressure selling techniques. For the post-contractual phase, it covers unfair and dishonest practices, e.g. those practices which unfairly deter consumers from switching suppliers would be targeted. The Green paper also develops ideas for better enforcement of consumer rights in B2C transactions. Currently there is no formal framework for co-operation between the bodies enforcing consumer rights in Member States. Ideas are developed in some detail about setting up a system for co-operation between national consumer protection agencies and bodies to help consumers to get their rights respected abroad. The Commission will organise a hearing and an intensiveconsultation process with consumer and business organisations on the ideas put forward in the Green Paper on EU consumer protection. Further initiatives in this area will be decided in the light of the outcome of the debate.�

  • DG [{'url': 'http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/index_en.htm', 'title': 'Health and Consumers'}],

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2001)0531
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A5-0423/2002
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0101/2003

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)