BETA


2009/2137(INI) Consumer protection

Progress: Procedure completed

RoleCommitteeRapporteurShadows
Lead IMCO HEDH Anna (icon: S&D S&D) MOTTI Tiziano (icon: PPE PPE), ROCHEFORT Robert (icon: ALDE ALDE), TURUNEN Emilie (icon: Verts/ALE Verts/ALE), HARBOUR Malcolm (icon: ECR ECR), SALVINI Matteo (icon: EFD EFD)
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
RoP 142-p2

Events

2010/06/25
   EC - Commission response to text adopted in plenary
Documents
2010/03/09
   EP - Results of vote in Parliament
2010/03/09
   EP - Debate in Parliament
2010/03/09
   EP - Decision by Parliament
Details

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on consumer protection, stating that a high level of consumer protection is crucial for the development of cross-border trade within a single market that meets consumers" needs.

It notes that 499 million consumers in the EU are central to the effective functioning of the internal market, with a crucial role to play in increasing growth, employment and competition, since consumer expenditure generates half of the EU’s wealth. Members stress the need for an active consumer policy to enable citizens to benefit fully from the internal market. Such a policy is all the more essential in the current economic crisis to support social policy in fighting against growing inequalities and to protect vulnerable consumers and low income groups.

Parliament took the view that the appointment in 2007 of a dedicated Commissioner for Consumer Affairs and her strong personal engagement brought about progress in European consumer protection policy, much to the benefit of EU citizens. However, it fears that splitting responsibility for consumer affairs between two Commissioners’ portfolios may lead to a reduction of the consumer focus in the new Commission. Members call on the Commission to ensure the effective integration of consumer interests into all EU policies , and to examine in its impact assessments the potential effects of any new legislation and policies affecting consumers, with each relevant Commission Directorate-General publishing an annual report on how consumer policy is integrated into its area of responsibility.

The resolution emphasises the crucial role of consumer organisations, the importance of strengthening consumer awareness in order to empower consumers, and the need to promote sustainable consumption. Member States are particularly encouraged to include consumer aspects in their national curricula in order to equip children with the necessary skills to take complex decisions later in life, and to consider educational programmes for parents and adult consumers. Commission and Member States are urged to launch a well-targeted communication strategy in order to raise awareness amongst EU citizens of the risks of exposure and of their rights as consumers, in particular by putting in place user-friendly web portals, awareness-raising campaigns and information points at local, regional and national level, with specific communication channels to reach the most vulnerable consumers.

The Consumer Markets Scoreboard : whilst welcoming the five main indicators in the Scoreboard – complaints, prices, satisfaction, switching and safety – Parliament considers that criteria should also be applied to measure the extent to which goods and services accord with the objective of sustainable development . It suggests that, once the five basic indicators and the associated methodology have been sufficiently developed to produce results of high quality, the Commission should consider including in the Scoreboard additional long-term indicators such as those relating to market shares, quality, advertising, transparency and comparability of offers, indicators related to enforcement and consumer empowerment, social, environmental and ethical indicators, as well as indicators to measure redress and consumer detriment..

On specific problems revealed by the Scoreboard, Parliament urges the Commission to carry out in-depth analyses of all problematic sectors identified in the Scoreboard followed by specific legislative initiatives and policy recommendations for Member States, and to provide feedback to Parliament. The resolution calls on all complaints bodies to adopt a harmonised methodology for classifying and reporting consumer complaints. Members also want further development of methodology on price data and consumer satisfaction.

Considering that the ability to switch providers is an essential feature of competition in a market economy, Parliament wants measures taken to facilitate switching in all important retail services.

Members move on to note that the prevalence of cross-border activity still varies significantly across the EU, and although average expenditure on cross-border purchases is considerable (EUR 737 per person per year), the great majority (75%) of retailers sell only to consumers in their own country, while only a quarter of EU consumers make cross-border purchases. Whilst there are a number of structural barriers, such as language, stronger consumer confidence would substantially increase the levels of cross-border trade. Parliament asks the Commission to include in future Scoreboards more complete data on the real level of cross-border sales and the problems encountered by cross-border consumers.

Members also call on the Commission to:

benchmark the consumer environment in each Member State, taking account of differences in consumer law and consumer traditions, to help identify best practices; develop a strategy to communicate the Scoreboard better to a wider audience, by ensuring that it is easily accessible on relevant websites, and to promote its proper dissemination to the media, national authorities, consumer organisations and other stakeholders.

All Member States are asked to carry out a broad market-monitoring exercise on an annual basis in order to identify markets which are failing for consumers and to provide complete data that will allow the Commission to compare the problems faced by consumers in the internal market.

Enforcement of the consumer acquis : Members welcome the five priority action areas identified by the Commission in its Communication on the enforcement of the consumer acquis . They note that enforcement across the EU is far from uniform and urge Member States to increase resources in order to ensure that laws protecting consumers and guaranteeing competition are enforced in retail markets. Parliament considers that enhancing market surveillance and enforcement mechanisms is crucial, and that public authorities must be given more resources to investigate illegal commercial practices. It encourages the establishment in all Member States of independent consumer protection agencies to bring proceedings before national courts in order to protect consumers’ interests. Parliament also urges Member States to consider the benefits of introducing a Consumer Ombudsman .

Parliament considers that the Commission and Member States should publish the results of market surveillance and enforcement activities , providing a breakdown by individual company, in cases where a recurrence of illegal practices has been identified, in order to ensure greater transparency, and enable consumers to make well-informed choice

Lastly, Members discuss the need to develop alternative dispute-resolution mechanisms and the need for improvement in terms of redress mechanisms , calling on the Commission to provide follow-up to its Green Paper on Consumer Collective Redress.

Documents
2010/03/09
   EP - End of procedure in Parliament
2010/03/02
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
Documents
2010/03/02
   EP - Committee report tabled for plenary
Documents
2010/02/23
   EP - Vote in committee
Details

The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection adopted the own-initiative report drawn up by Anna HEDH (S&D, SE) on consumer protection.

It notes that 499 million consumers in the EU are central to the effective functioning of the internal market and have a crucial role to play in increasing growth, employment and competition, since consumer expenditure generates half of the EU’s wealth. Members stress the need for an active consumer policy to enable citizens to benefit fully from the internal market. Such a policy is all the more essential in the current economic crisis to support social policy in fighting against growing inequalities and to protect vulnerable consumers and low income groups.

The committee took the view that the appointment in 2007 of a dedicated Commissioner for Consumer Affairs and her strong personal engagement brought about progress in European consumer protection policy and consumer issues, much to the benefit of EU citizens. However, it fears that splitting responsibility for consumer affairs between two Commissioners’ portfolios may lead to a reduction of the consumer focus in the new Commission. Members call on the Commission to ensure the effective integration of consumer interests into all EU policies , and to examine in its impact assessments the potential effects of any new legislation and policies affecting consumers, with each relevant Commission Directorate-General publishing an annual report on how consumer policy is integrated into its area of responsibility.

The report emphasises the crucial role of consumer organisations, the importance of strengthening consumer awareness and training in order to empower consumers throughout their lives, and the need to promote sustainable consumption. Member States are particularly encouraged to include consumer aspects in their national curricula at all levels of education in order to equip children with the necessary skills to take complex decisions later in life, and to consider educational programmes for parents and adult consumers. Commission and Member States are urged to launch a well-targeted communication strategy in order to raise awareness amongst EU citizens of the risks of exposure and of their rights as consumers, in particular by putting in place user-friendly web portals, awareness-raising campaigns and information points at local, regional and national level, with specific communication channels to reach the most vulnerable consumers.

The Consumer Markets Scoreboard : whilst welcoming the five main indicators in the Scoreboard – complaints, prices, satisfaction, switching and safety – the committee considers that criteria should also be applied to measure the extent to which goods and services accord with the objective of sustainable development . It suggests that, once the five basic indicators and the associated methodology have been sufficiently developed to produce results of high quality, the Commission should consider including in the Scoreboard additional long-term indicators such as those relating to market shares, quality, advertising, transparency and comparability of offers, indicators related to enforcement and consumer empowerment, social, environmental and ethical indicators, as well as indicators to measure redress and consumer detriment. However, this should be done gradually in order to ensure a focused and intelligible Scoreboard.

On specific problems revealed by the Scoreboard, the committee states that it is aware that consumers experience more problems with services than with goods, and it urges the Commission to carry out in-depth analyses of all problematic sectors identified in the Scoreboard followed by specific legislative initiatives and policy recommendations for Member States, and to provide feedback to Parliament.

The report calls on all complaints bodies to adopt a harmonised methodology for classifying and reporting consumer complaints and encourages them to report complaints data corresponding to all fields – recommended and voluntary – proposed by the Commission in its draft recommendation. Members also want further development of methodology on price data and consumer satisfaction.

Considering that the ability to switch providers is an essential feature of competition in a market economy, the committee urges the Commission and the Member States to take measures to facilitate switching in all important retail services .

Members move on to note that the prevalence of cross-border activity still varies significantly across the EU, and although average expenditure on cross-border purchases is considerable (EUR 737 per person per year), the great majority (75%) of retailers sell only to consumers in their own country, while only a quarter of EU consumers make cross-border purchases. Whilst there are a number of structural barriers, such as language, stronger consumer confidence would substantially increase the levels of cross-border trade. The report asks the Commission to include in future Scoreboards more complete data on the real level of cross-border sales and the problems encountered by cross-border consumers.

Members also call on the Commission to:

benchmark the consumer environment in each Member State, taking account of differences in consumer law and consumer traditions, to help identify best practices; develop a strategy to communicate the Scoreboard better to a wider audience, by ensuring that it is easily accessible on relevant websites, and to promote its proper dissemination to the media, national authorities, consumer organisations and other stakeholders.

All Member States are asked to carry out a broad market-monitoring exercise on an annual basis in order to identify markets which are failing for consumers and to provide complete data that will allow the Commission to monitor and compare the problems faced by consumers in the internal market.

Enforcement of the consumer acquis : Members welcome the five priority action areas identified by the Commission in its communication on the enforcement of the consumer acquis . They note that enforcement across the EU is far from uniform and urge Member States to increase resources in order to ensure that laws protecting consumers and guaranteeing competition are enforced in retail markets. The report considers that enhancing market surveillance and enforcement mechanisms and applying them efficiently is crucial, and that public authorities must be given more resources to investigate and stop illegal commercial practices. It encourages the establishment in all Member States of independent consumer protection agencies to bring proceedings before national courts in order to protect consumers’ interests. The committee also urges Member States to consider the benefits of introducing a Consumer Ombudsman.

Members go on to discuss the need to develop alternative dispute-resolution mechanisms to enhance the level of consumer protection and the need for improvement in terms of redress mechanisms , calling on the Commission to provide follow-up to its Green Paper on Consumer Collective Redress.

Lastly, the committee considers that the Commission and Member States should publish the results of market surveillance and enforcement activities , providing a breakdown by individual company, in cases where a recurrence of illegal practices has been identified, in order to ensure greater transparency, and enable consumers to make well-informed choices.

2010/02/04
   EP - Amendments tabled in committee
Documents
2009/12/21
   EP - Committee draft report
Documents
2009/10/19
   EP - Committee referral announced in Parliament
2009/10/06
   EP - HEDH Anna (S&D) appointed as rapporteur in IMCO

Documents

AmendmentsDossier
87 2009/2137(INI)
2010/02/04 IMCO 87 amendments...
source: PE-438.422

History

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

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  • date: 2009-10-19T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: MOTTI Tiziano group: ALDE name: ROCHEFORT Robert group: Verts/ALE name: TURUNEN Emilie group: ECR name: HARBOUR Malcolm group: GUE/NGL name: TRIANTAPHYLLIDES Kyriacos group: EFD name: SALVINI Matteo responsible: True committee: IMCO date: 2009-10-06T00:00:00 committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection rapporteur: group: S&D name: HEDH Anna
  • date: 2010-02-23T00:00:00 body: EP committees: body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: MOTTI Tiziano group: ALDE name: ROCHEFORT Robert group: Verts/ALE name: TURUNEN Emilie group: ECR name: HARBOUR Malcolm group: GUE/NGL name: TRIANTAPHYLLIDES Kyriacos group: EFD name: SALVINI Matteo responsible: True committee: IMCO date: 2009-10-06T00:00:00 committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection rapporteur: group: S&D name: HEDH Anna type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2010-03-02T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2010-24&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A7-0024/2010 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • date: 2010-03-09T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=18051&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20100309&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2010-46 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T7-0046/2010 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
commission
  • body: EC dg: Health and Food Safety commissioner: DALLI John
committees/0
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Responsible Committee
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EP
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False
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IMCO
date
2009-10-06T00:00:00
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docs
  • date: 2009-12-21T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE431.135 title: PE431.135 type: Committee draft report body: EP
  • date: 2010-02-04T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=COMPARL&mode=XML&language=EN&reference=PE438.422 title: PE438.422 type: Amendments tabled in committee body: EP
  • date: 2010-03-02T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2010-24&language=EN title: A7-0024/2010 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP
  • date: 2010-06-25T00:00:00 docs: url: /oeil/spdoc.do?i=18051&j=0&l=en title: SP(2010)2718/2 type: Commission response to text adopted in plenary
events
  • date: 2009-10-19T00:00:00 type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP
  • date: 2010-02-23T00:00:00 type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading body: EP summary: The Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection adopted the own-initiative report drawn up by Anna HEDH (S&D, SE) on consumer protection. It notes that 499 million consumers in the EU are central to the effective functioning of the internal market and have a crucial role to play in increasing growth, employment and competition, since consumer expenditure generates half of the EU’s wealth. Members stress the need for an active consumer policy to enable citizens to benefit fully from the internal market. Such a policy is all the more essential in the current economic crisis to support social policy in fighting against growing inequalities and to protect vulnerable consumers and low income groups. The committee took the view that the appointment in 2007 of a dedicated Commissioner for Consumer Affairs and her strong personal engagement brought about progress in European consumer protection policy and consumer issues, much to the benefit of EU citizens. However, it fears that splitting responsibility for consumer affairs between two Commissioners’ portfolios may lead to a reduction of the consumer focus in the new Commission. Members call on the Commission to ensure the effective integration of consumer interests into all EU policies , and to examine in its impact assessments the potential effects of any new legislation and policies affecting consumers, with each relevant Commission Directorate-General publishing an annual report on how consumer policy is integrated into its area of responsibility. The report emphasises the crucial role of consumer organisations, the importance of strengthening consumer awareness and training in order to empower consumers throughout their lives, and the need to promote sustainable consumption. Member States are particularly encouraged to include consumer aspects in their national curricula at all levels of education in order to equip children with the necessary skills to take complex decisions later in life, and to consider educational programmes for parents and adult consumers. Commission and Member States are urged to launch a well-targeted communication strategy in order to raise awareness amongst EU citizens of the risks of exposure and of their rights as consumers, in particular by putting in place user-friendly web portals, awareness-raising campaigns and information points at local, regional and national level, with specific communication channels to reach the most vulnerable consumers. The Consumer Markets Scoreboard : whilst welcoming the five main indicators in the Scoreboard – complaints, prices, satisfaction, switching and safety – the committee considers that criteria should also be applied to measure the extent to which goods and services accord with the objective of sustainable development . It suggests that, once the five basic indicators and the associated methodology have been sufficiently developed to produce results of high quality, the Commission should consider including in the Scoreboard additional long-term indicators such as those relating to market shares, quality, advertising, transparency and comparability of offers, indicators related to enforcement and consumer empowerment, social, environmental and ethical indicators, as well as indicators to measure redress and consumer detriment. However, this should be done gradually in order to ensure a focused and intelligible Scoreboard. On specific problems revealed by the Scoreboard, the committee states that it is aware that consumers experience more problems with services than with goods, and it urges the Commission to carry out in-depth analyses of all problematic sectors identified in the Scoreboard followed by specific legislative initiatives and policy recommendations for Member States, and to provide feedback to Parliament. The report calls on all complaints bodies to adopt a harmonised methodology for classifying and reporting consumer complaints and encourages them to report complaints data corresponding to all fields – recommended and voluntary – proposed by the Commission in its draft recommendation. Members also want further development of methodology on price data and consumer satisfaction. Considering that the ability to switch providers is an essential feature of competition in a market economy, the committee urges the Commission and the Member States to take measures to facilitate switching in all important retail services . Members move on to note that the prevalence of cross-border activity still varies significantly across the EU, and although average expenditure on cross-border purchases is considerable (EUR 737 per person per year), the great majority (75%) of retailers sell only to consumers in their own country, while only a quarter of EU consumers make cross-border purchases. Whilst there are a number of structural barriers, such as language, stronger consumer confidence would substantially increase the levels of cross-border trade. The report asks the Commission to include in future Scoreboards more complete data on the real level of cross-border sales and the problems encountered by cross-border consumers. Members also call on the Commission to: benchmark the consumer environment in each Member State, taking account of differences in consumer law and consumer traditions, to help identify best practices; develop a strategy to communicate the Scoreboard better to a wider audience, by ensuring that it is easily accessible on relevant websites, and to promote its proper dissemination to the media, national authorities, consumer organisations and other stakeholders. All Member States are asked to carry out a broad market-monitoring exercise on an annual basis in order to identify markets which are failing for consumers and to provide complete data that will allow the Commission to monitor and compare the problems faced by consumers in the internal market. Enforcement of the consumer acquis : Members welcome the five priority action areas identified by the Commission in its communication on the enforcement of the consumer acquis . They note that enforcement across the EU is far from uniform and urge Member States to increase resources in order to ensure that laws protecting consumers and guaranteeing competition are enforced in retail markets. The report considers that enhancing market surveillance and enforcement mechanisms and applying them efficiently is crucial, and that public authorities must be given more resources to investigate and stop illegal commercial practices. It encourages the establishment in all Member States of independent consumer protection agencies to bring proceedings before national courts in order to protect consumers’ interests. The committee also urges Member States to consider the benefits of introducing a Consumer Ombudsman. Members go on to discuss the need to develop alternative dispute-resolution mechanisms to enhance the level of consumer protection and the need for improvement in terms of redress mechanisms , calling on the Commission to provide follow-up to its Green Paper on Consumer Collective Redress. Lastly, the committee considers that the Commission and Member States should publish the results of market surveillance and enforcement activities , providing a breakdown by individual company, in cases where a recurrence of illegal practices has been identified, in order to ensure greater transparency, and enable consumers to make well-informed choices.
  • date: 2010-03-02T00:00:00 type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2010-24&language=EN title: A7-0024/2010
  • date: 2010-03-09T00:00:00 type: Results of vote in Parliament body: EP docs: url: https://oeil.secure.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=18051&l=en title: Results of vote in Parliament
  • date: 2010-03-09T00:00:00 type: Debate in Parliament body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20100309&type=CRE title: Debate in Parliament
  • date: 2010-03-09T00:00:00 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading body: EP docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2010-46 title: T7-0046/2010 summary: The European Parliament adopted a resolution on consumer protection, stating that a high level of consumer protection is crucial for the development of cross-border trade within a single market that meets consumers" needs. It notes that 499 million consumers in the EU are central to the effective functioning of the internal market, with a crucial role to play in increasing growth, employment and competition, since consumer expenditure generates half of the EU’s wealth. Members stress the need for an active consumer policy to enable citizens to benefit fully from the internal market. Such a policy is all the more essential in the current economic crisis to support social policy in fighting against growing inequalities and to protect vulnerable consumers and low income groups. Parliament took the view that the appointment in 2007 of a dedicated Commissioner for Consumer Affairs and her strong personal engagement brought about progress in European consumer protection policy, much to the benefit of EU citizens. However, it fears that splitting responsibility for consumer affairs between two Commissioners’ portfolios may lead to a reduction of the consumer focus in the new Commission. Members call on the Commission to ensure the effective integration of consumer interests into all EU policies , and to examine in its impact assessments the potential effects of any new legislation and policies affecting consumers, with each relevant Commission Directorate-General publishing an annual report on how consumer policy is integrated into its area of responsibility. The resolution emphasises the crucial role of consumer organisations, the importance of strengthening consumer awareness in order to empower consumers, and the need to promote sustainable consumption. Member States are particularly encouraged to include consumer aspects in their national curricula in order to equip children with the necessary skills to take complex decisions later in life, and to consider educational programmes for parents and adult consumers. Commission and Member States are urged to launch a well-targeted communication strategy in order to raise awareness amongst EU citizens of the risks of exposure and of their rights as consumers, in particular by putting in place user-friendly web portals, awareness-raising campaigns and information points at local, regional and national level, with specific communication channels to reach the most vulnerable consumers. The Consumer Markets Scoreboard : whilst welcoming the five main indicators in the Scoreboard – complaints, prices, satisfaction, switching and safety – Parliament considers that criteria should also be applied to measure the extent to which goods and services accord with the objective of sustainable development . It suggests that, once the five basic indicators and the associated methodology have been sufficiently developed to produce results of high quality, the Commission should consider including in the Scoreboard additional long-term indicators such as those relating to market shares, quality, advertising, transparency and comparability of offers, indicators related to enforcement and consumer empowerment, social, environmental and ethical indicators, as well as indicators to measure redress and consumer detriment.. On specific problems revealed by the Scoreboard, Parliament urges the Commission to carry out in-depth analyses of all problematic sectors identified in the Scoreboard followed by specific legislative initiatives and policy recommendations for Member States, and to provide feedback to Parliament. The resolution calls on all complaints bodies to adopt a harmonised methodology for classifying and reporting consumer complaints. Members also want further development of methodology on price data and consumer satisfaction. Considering that the ability to switch providers is an essential feature of competition in a market economy, Parliament wants measures taken to facilitate switching in all important retail services. Members move on to note that the prevalence of cross-border activity still varies significantly across the EU, and although average expenditure on cross-border purchases is considerable (EUR 737 per person per year), the great majority (75%) of retailers sell only to consumers in their own country, while only a quarter of EU consumers make cross-border purchases. Whilst there are a number of structural barriers, such as language, stronger consumer confidence would substantially increase the levels of cross-border trade. Parliament asks the Commission to include in future Scoreboards more complete data on the real level of cross-border sales and the problems encountered by cross-border consumers. Members also call on the Commission to: benchmark the consumer environment in each Member State, taking account of differences in consumer law and consumer traditions, to help identify best practices; develop a strategy to communicate the Scoreboard better to a wider audience, by ensuring that it is easily accessible on relevant websites, and to promote its proper dissemination to the media, national authorities, consumer organisations and other stakeholders. All Member States are asked to carry out a broad market-monitoring exercise on an annual basis in order to identify markets which are failing for consumers and to provide complete data that will allow the Commission to compare the problems faced by consumers in the internal market. Enforcement of the consumer acquis : Members welcome the five priority action areas identified by the Commission in its Communication on the enforcement of the consumer acquis . They note that enforcement across the EU is far from uniform and urge Member States to increase resources in order to ensure that laws protecting consumers and guaranteeing competition are enforced in retail markets. Parliament considers that enhancing market surveillance and enforcement mechanisms is crucial, and that public authorities must be given more resources to investigate illegal commercial practices. It encourages the establishment in all Member States of independent consumer protection agencies to bring proceedings before national courts in order to protect consumers’ interests. Parliament also urges Member States to consider the benefits of introducing a Consumer Ombudsman . Parliament considers that the Commission and Member States should publish the results of market surveillance and enforcement activities , providing a breakdown by individual company, in cases where a recurrence of illegal practices has been identified, in order to ensure greater transparency, and enable consumers to make well-informed choice Lastly, Members discuss the need to develop alternative dispute-resolution mechanisms and the need for improvement in terms of redress mechanisms , calling on the Commission to provide follow-up to its Green Paper on Consumer Collective Redress.
  • date: 2010-03-09T00:00:00 type: End of procedure in Parliament body: EP
links
other
  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/index_en.htm title: Health and Consumers commissioner: DALLI John
procedure/Modified legal basis
Old
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 150
New
Rules of Procedure EP 150
procedure/dossier_of_the_committee
Old
IMCO/7/01204
New
  • IMCO/7/01204
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure EP 132-p2
procedure/legal_basis/0
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 132-p2
procedure/subject
Old
  • 4.60 Consumers' protection in general
  • 8.50.01 Implementation of EU law
New
4.60
Consumers' protection in general
8.50.01
Implementation of EU law
activities
  • date: 2009-10-19T00:00:00 body: EP type: Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading committees: body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: MOTTI Tiziano group: ALDE name: ROCHEFORT Robert group: Verts/ALE name: TURUNEN Emilie group: ECR name: HARBOUR Malcolm group: GUE/NGL name: TRIANTAPHYLLIDES Kyriacos group: EFD name: SALVINI Matteo responsible: True committee: IMCO date: 2009-10-06T00:00:00 committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection rapporteur: group: S&D name: HEDH Anna
  • date: 2010-02-23T00:00:00 body: EP committees: body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: MOTTI Tiziano group: ALDE name: ROCHEFORT Robert group: Verts/ALE name: TURUNEN Emilie group: ECR name: HARBOUR Malcolm group: GUE/NGL name: TRIANTAPHYLLIDES Kyriacos group: EFD name: SALVINI Matteo responsible: True committee: IMCO date: 2009-10-06T00:00:00 committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection rapporteur: group: S&D name: HEDH Anna type: Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • date: 2010-03-02T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=REPORT&mode=XML&reference=A7-2010-24&language=EN type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading title: A7-0024/2010 body: EP type: Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • date: 2010-03-09T00:00:00 docs: url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/popups/sda.do?id=18051&l=en type: Results of vote in Parliament title: Results of vote in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?secondRef=TOC&language=EN&reference=20100309&type=CRE type: Debate in Parliament title: Debate in Parliament url: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&language=EN&reference=P7-TA-2010-46 type: Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading title: T7-0046/2010 body: EP type: Results of vote in Parliament
committees
  • body: EP shadows: group: PPE name: MOTTI Tiziano group: ALDE name: ROCHEFORT Robert group: Verts/ALE name: TURUNEN Emilie group: ECR name: HARBOUR Malcolm group: GUE/NGL name: TRIANTAPHYLLIDES Kyriacos group: EFD name: SALVINI Matteo responsible: True committee: IMCO date: 2009-10-06T00:00:00 committee_full: Internal Market and Consumer Protection rapporteur: group: S&D name: HEDH Anna
links
other
  • body: EC dg: url: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/index_en.htm title: Health and Consumers commissioner: DALLI John
procedure
dossier_of_the_committee
IMCO/7/01204
reference
2009/2137(INI)
title
Consumer protection
legal_basis
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 132-p2
stage_reached
Procedure completed
subtype
Annual report
Modified legal basis
Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament EP 150
type
INI - Own-initiative procedure
subject