Good afternoon,
I am delighted to present to you today the Consumer Agenda – our vision for consumer protection over the next five years.
Today is about the 450 million consumers across the EU that are at the core of the Single Market.
- Consumer spending now represents 51% of the EUs GDP.
- And we know that confident consumers mean a healthy and dynamic economy for our Single Market.
Todays Agenda responds to the concerns & challenges faced by consumers and European businesses:
- from the surge in unfair online commercial practices and the exponential growth of e-commerce;
- Remaining barriers to access cross-border goods and services in the Single Market; and
- To the high cost of living and the growing impact of climate change.
Our consumer policy for the next five years is guided by the fact
- that consumer trust creates thriving markets
- and that consumer protection drives Europes competitiveness and economic growth
Our consumer protection framework provides rules and incentives that create the trust, safeguards, and legal certainty that benefit both consumers and businesses alike.
- In turbulent times of economic competition and geopolitical confrontation, the stability of our Single Market underpins the stability of our Union and the EUs competitiveness globally.
- And let me add that the new Consumer Agenda not only drives competitiveness but sets simplification and administrative burden reduction as overarching priorities throughout.
The Agenda focuses on four priorities:
- Removing obstacles for consumers in the Single Market;
- Enhancing digital fairness and online consumer protection;
- Fostering sustainable consumption;
- Strengthening enforcement of consumer rights.
First, to remove obstacles for consumers in the Single Market, the Agenda puts forward an Action Plan aimed at promoting cross-border access to goods, services and clean mobility.
Consumers should be able to seamlessly reap the full benefits our greatest single asset - the Single Market.
- And this is why our actions look at breaking down barriers when, for example, consumers book transnational rail services or try to access cross-border financial service.
- We will also focus on putting an end to other forms of discrimination based on nationality, place of residence or establishment.
Second, we are committed to enhancing digital fairness and online consumer protection.
The digital economy has delivered real benefits for consumers.
It has opened doors to new products and services and reshaped daily life, from the way we shop to how we consume entertainment, access information and engage with businesses.
As e-commerce continues to grow, new technologies develop and the use of AI becomes more widespread, we must ensure that EU consumer law continues to provide strong protection, safeguarding consumer autonomy and freedom of choice.
And this is precisely why I will present a Digital Fairness Act next year.
This Act is about protecting consumers online, simplifying rules, providing legal certainty, and securing a level-playing field for EU businesses.
It will address practices that often manipulate consumers, making them spend more time online and more money than they originally intended to.
The Act will also respond to how minors are exposed to unfair commercial practices online.
In addition to the Digital Fairness Act, we will look to strengthen fairness online by reinforcing the protection of consumers against online fraud, from stronger prevention to better support for victims in reclaiming their funds.
Under the digital fairness pillar, we will also explore how digital solutions, such as digital labelling, may enhance access to product and service information for consumers, while reducing the administrative burden for companies.
We will further work to ensure the fair and transparent use of AI in consumer markets, in line with the AI Act and existing consumer and product safety rules.
This includes making sure that our consumer protection framework keeps pace with technological developments and that consumers receive clear and transparent information when interacting with AI.
Third, to foster sustainable consumption, the Consumer Agenda outlines the measures taken by the Commission to further tackle greenwashing, early obsolescence, and the lack of trustworthy information about product durability and repairability.
It also sets out the rules introduced to make sustainable products more accessible, more affordable and easier to repair.
Our priority will be to effectively implement and enforce EU rules
Looking forward, we also want to continue working on the promotion of the circular economy, such as by fostering “green by design” features, and by promoting
- the return of goods that are no longer used,
- second-hand markets,
- or subscription-based products.
Other important actions will also involve a better protection of consumers against forever chemicals (so-called “PFAS”) or allowing consumers to switch to more sustainable transport modes.
The last pillar of the Agenda looks at strengthening the enforcement of consumer rights.
What were seeing is an increase in unfair commercial practices and unsafe products sold online, which exposes consumers to risks and businesses to unfair competition.
We have already made strides to address these issues, for example, with the recent agreement on removing the de minimis thresholds.
However, theres more to be done and Id like to highlight two key deliverables.
We will revise the Consumer Protection Cooperation Regulation next year.
- All companies who offer their products and their services to EU consumers should be held to the same legal standards, regardless of whether they operate within or outside of the EU.
- This revision of the CPC Regulation aims to strengthen and simplify the enforcement framework for authorities and compliant traders, and to make enforcement of EU consumer law more effective and more deterrent.
- We are looking at more centralised investigation and sanctioning powers of consumer rights at EU level, as well as more support and better coordination among national authorities.
- And through a more consistent application and interpretation of consumer protection rules, we will increase legal certainty and help businesses to lower their compliance costs –
- delivering simplification,
- ensuring a level playing field,
- and driving competitiveness.
We will also propose a revision of the Market Surveillance Regulation which will explore further measures to make product safety enforcement more efficient and potentially establish an EU market surveillance authority.
Our consumer policy delivers daily tangible benefits to EU citizens .
This is why we are responding to changes and challenges across markets – online and offline.
And this is why we are ensuring that rule setting is followed up through complete implementation and effective enforcement for the future of our consumer economy and the EUs Single Market.
Thank you, I look forward to your questions.
