The European Consumer Day 2016: a consensual topic

Today I followed the European Consumer Day 2016 conference, held in Brussels. The purpose was to have a debate on the Better Regulation initiative of the European Commission and on which other initatives can be followed by other institutions in implementing more policies on the protection of consumers. 

The panel had a general agreement on some of the aspects which are essential to all: the consumers must have a guarantee that the high standards of the European market are a priority of the authorities. Besides, in order to have a clear progress on this field, the stakeholders need to be closely involved with the authorities in order to reach a more homogeneous regulation. Consequently, the stakeholders ask for more simple and accessible information to the consumers through a high guarantee of transparency on the policies and rules adopted. On this sense, the European Commission has worked on new mechanims which are available to the public and the stakeholders. These tools allow a direct and instant contact with the institution on certain proposals in order to have a feedback on consultations, impact assessments and roadmaps, such as Lighten the load and Your Voice in Europe.

The event started with a high-level panel of speakers of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), European Commission, European Parliamentary Research Service and Committee of the Regions. More details on the event here. As for stakeholders, the event was attended by representatives both of consumers and of the industries: BEUC (the European Consumer Organisation), DECO (Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection), BUSINESSEUROPE, Better Regulation Watchdog, Confederation of Danish Entreprise and Ecommerce Europe.

The public intervened mostly to express their opinions which are already well known as critics against the European buroucratic system. In fact, besides a regular debate about new ideas and initiatives, the citizens are willing to have more practical intervention and clear results on certain issues which are relevant and that create the most problems. If the Juncker Commission is very active on the launch of new initiatives, the stakeholders and the citizens are willing that all the work undertaken provides a more practical delivery which will have concrete results to the European citizens and businesses.

The Vice President of the Committee of Regions, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, mentioned the importance of local and regional authorities as a closer point of contact to consumers in Europe:




It was pointed by the President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Georges Dassis, that the protection of consumers today is also closely linked to the economic crisis which left the Europan citizens in vulnerable situations related also to weak economic sustaibility issues which affected businesses, in particular, SMEs.

The keynote speech of Monique Goyens, Director-General at BEUC was, on my opinion, a high moment of the conference, with a clear critic to the general state of the protection of the consumers and on the main issues which need improvement by the legislator.

THE DIGITAL SINGLE MARKET

In fact, the improvement on consumer protection and regulation is a complex topic in the sense that it involves all sectors of the economy. On this matter, one sector has become clearly pertinent to the European market, involving several business: the digital services.

I follow closely the cross-border barriers to digital services topic, relevant today taking into consideration that the development of new services in the internal market has brought us to a deadlock which needs urgent intervention. Since the creation of the EEC that it was defined a specific target of harmonising the rules and the procedures in order to facilitate the trade and consumption in the internal market. It came to the point where it became inevitable to establish freedom of persons, services, goods and capitals with the Treaty of Maastricht..

Today, we have come to a new stage of the regulation of the internal market as services linked to the digital era are developing everyday and new business appear (to the exasperation of the legislator). We have the example of sharing economy such as Uber or Airbnb. These consumers need to be protected against situations which are not regulated yet. The authorities have taken note, and working groups and committees at the European Parliament and the Council are working to reach some agreements still this year.

The presentation by ECommerce Secretary-General, Marlene ten Ham gave us some light on the following aspects:

50% of consumers at the European market buy products online from others Member States. There is a need for more legislation on cross-border and online services, besides its improvement. Better regulation means an increase of consumers awareness about their rights and more education about product safety.

 

So, how to tackle cross-border barriers on e-commerce? It is still visible a clear fragmentation on private law and consumer protection legislation between the Member States. The European Commission is working since last year, after the launch of the Digital Single Market strategy, on public consultations, risk assessments and new proposals for revision of legislation, such as the published proposals to harmonize consumer protection and contract rules across the European Union for the supply of digital content and the distance sales of tangible goods which is a satisfying improvement recognised by stakeholders.

Moreover, the only way towards the harmonisation of consumers protection legislation is to have a merge between offline and online industries/services which does not impose a distinction between these two types of services. Regarding Better Regulation, should we have better regulation or enforcement against the ones which do not respect European and national legislation? It is fundamental that the legislators adapts itself to the new fast-paced digital skills gained by the European citizens. I look forward for the publication of the presentations of the speakers for a more deep analysis of its content and impact on consumer protection. And do not forget:

#ConsumerDay