The New Agenda for European Consumer Policy, together with its financial instrument: EU Consumer Programme 2014-2020 establishes the financial and policy framework for improving consumer protection and rights in the Single Market for the period from 2014 to 2020. It gives concrete shape to the principle set out in the Treaty on European Union under which consumer interests must be taken into account in all relevant EU policies.
Built around four main objectives, the European Consumer Agenda aims to increase confidence by: reinforcing consumer safety; enhancing knowledge; stepping up enforcement and securing redress; aligning consumer rights and policies to changes in society and in the economy. It also presents a number of key actions to be implemented in the field of food safety, health, energy, transport, financial and digital products.
In its report, IMCO committee stresses notably that e-commerce needs to ensure the quality of products, that market information must be reliable, clear and comparable and, that vulnerable groups of the population such as children and the elderly needs special attention. It emphasises the importance of the current financial crisis regarding both the economic as well as the social context as this affects consumers' confidence and the need to develop a European Approach to Collective Redress in addition to ADR and ODR.
Last but not least, it calls for improving the enforcement on non-compliance with Union legislation and the need for close cooperation between European, national and local authorities.
Rapporteur: Vicente Garcés Ramón (S&D)
Shadows: (EPP) S. Kalniete, (ALDE) R. Rochefort, (ECR) M. Harbour, (GUE) K. Triantaphyllides, (EFD) M. Salvini
Source : © European Union, 2014 - EP