Tag: consumer rights

The European Commission unveiled proposals yesterday (29 November) intended to make it easier for consumers who shop anywhere in the EU – including online – to file complaints against manufacturers without going to court.

A new law on cross-border sales, due to be unveiled today (12 October), can help dig the EU out of the economic crisis, according to the Commissioner who will present it. Meanwhile business groups ralliy against the proposal, claiming it will hinder, not help small companies. 

Consumer groups are broadly satisfied with new consumer rights legislation in Europe, but SMEs fear the law will increase administrative burdens on small traders. Governments have two years to implement the EU's new Consumer Rights Directive after years of negotiations concluded with its passing into law last week by the European Parliament.  

A common European contract law yesterday (8 June) came one step closer to reality after MEPs backed proposals by the European Commission to establish an optional EU-wide system. But consumer groups warned that such a scheme would do little to boost cross-border trade and only add to the confusion faced by businesses and shoppers alike. 

The EU's new Consumer Rights Directive is designed to drag consumer rights legislation into the 21^st Century by creating legal certainty for businesses and better protecting online shoppers in particular. But EU policymakers are currently at loggerheads over the scope of the draft law. 

An updated version of the EU's Consumer Rights Directive was approved by the European Parliament's internal market committee yesterday (1 February). But socialist MEPs rejected the text and accused their centre-right colleagues of "selling off" the rights of European consumers, suggesting that further battles lie ahead before the legislation becomes law.  

Ministers meeting at an EU Competitiveness Council last week backed compromise proposals tabled by the Belgian EU Presidency aimed at drawing up "common consumer rights" across the European Union and bringing together existing EU legislation into a single Consumer Rights Directive.

The EU is set to draft a definition of energy poverty in a bid to put consumers on the bloc's energy policy agenda.

The European Parliament's internal market and consumer protection committee debated a report yesterday (3 June) which completely overhauls the European Commission's original proposal for a directive on consumer rights.