A Parliament report on European Commission proposals to establish a more uniform set of rules on consumer rights across the EU received a rather mixed welcome from MEPs on Thursday (24 June).
The report focused on the last four chapters of the proposed directive, which relate to sales contract terms as well as general and final provisions.
The first three chapters were discussed in the committee earlier this month (EurActiv 04/06/10).
The Commission's 2008 proposal merges four existing EU consumer rights directives into one, structured under seven chapters, such as consumer information and contract terms (EurActiv 08/10/08; EurActiv 10/10/08).
The Parliament's rapporteur, German MEP Andreas Schwab (European People's Party), proposes considerable changes regarding the chapter-based structure of the directive and advocates a mixed approach to harmonisation.
He proposes applying the concept of "targeted full harmonisation" whereby common EU rules are applied across the board when desirable, leaving others to only pursue minimum harmonisation.
But other MEPs expressed concern over Schwab's plans to reorganise the directive's structure.
British MEP Malcolm Harbour (European Conservatives and Reformists), who chairs the IMCO committee, stressed that discussing the content of the directive would not be possible before MEPs had agreed on the structure.
Harbour advised the rapporteur and shadow rapporteurs to work together and agree on a structure before the committee meets next month to discuss the consolidated version of the draft report.
In general, MEPs asked for more time to consider this complex piece of legislation.
Member states also appear to be divided on the issue, with a majority in favour of full targeted harmonisation but on a varying scale according to the type of contract.
While the Commission's original proposal, tabled under the Barroso I Commission, seeks full harmonisation, the new EU executive argues that only targeted full harmonisation is desirable (EurActiv 16/04/10).
Justice and Fundamental Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding said that if there is no agreement on the dossier at first reading, she will consider tabling a new text.
