About: consumer protection Archives
-
Google, Facebook and Twitter face fines as EU grows ‘impatient’ with lax consumer rules
Google, Facebook and Twitter could face fines if they do not change their user conditions to meet the European Commission's demands.
-
Weighing the tradeoffs of joy versus long term health
Consumers make hundreds of choices every day, some of which imply weighing the tradeoffs of joy versus long term health. These are highly subjective decisions, and in a free society adult consumers should have the right to make these choices and not have them dictated to them by public health tsars, writes Fred Roeder.
-
EU fines Facebook €110 million over WhatsApp deal
European Union antitrust regulators fined Facebook €110 million on Thursday (18 May) for giving misleading information during a vetting of its deal to acquire messaging service WhatsApp in 2014.
-
Growing fake smartphone market raises eyebrows in Brussels
The rise of counterfeit smartphone devices in the EU in 2015 is dealing a severe blow to industry sales and consumer safety, a new report has warned.
-
Ministers agree on ‘sustainably’ ending roaming charges
The Council agreed on a solution to end roaming fees in 2017, while lessening the impact on mobile operators. But consumer organisations warned against operators hiking domestic prices as compensation.
-
German leaders told to put brakes on CETA as well
Dismantling democracy, millions spent in lawsuits and jobs in peril. A study into the effects of the planned CETA and TTIP agreements on the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia has revealed a grim picture. Bleaker still is the conclusion that the results can be applied to all of Germany. EURACTIV Germany reports.
-
What does an innovation agenda mean for consumers?
Innovation and consumer protection are not opposites. Indeed there is huge potential to use innovation to deliver safer products that benefit consumers, writes Monique Goyens.
-
EU makes progress on uniform sharing economy policy
The European Commission will ask member states to review and amend legislation, when necessary, to end the fragmentation faced by Uber, Airbnb and other collaborative platforms in Europe, EURACTIV.com has learned.
-
Greenpeace to publish 248 pages of TTIP leaks
Greenpeace said yesterday (1 May) it was in possession of leaked documents showing that a planned huge free trade deal between the United States and the European Union poses "major risks for climate, environment and consumer safety".
-
Germany plans ‘smart’ packaging to cut food waste
Germans throw away 82kg each in food waste every year, despite much of it still being edible. Minister of Food and Agriculture Christian Schmidt (CSU) wants things to change and to abolish the expiration date on packaging in favour of more scientific alternatives. EURACTIV Germany reports.
-
Romania wants to boost consumer confidence in organics
The Bucharest government wants to give organic farming a boost and - at the same time - increase consumers’ confidence in the sector. EURACTIV Romania reports.
-
Better lawmaking? Only if it is in the people’s interest
It is in the public interest to have a well-functioning legislative and regulatory body that is appropriate for the context. However, it raises many questions about the objectives being pursued, writes Reine-Claude Mader.
-
Member states swipe left: Tinder has (court) date in EU countries
Consumer organisations in three EU countries lodged complaints against US-based dating app Tinder today (3 March) for its restrictive user contracts.
-
German advisory council highlights TTIP risks
TTIP's detractors continue to fear the impact it could have on environmental and consumer protection and now the German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU) has criticised certain aspects after carrying out careful analysis. EURACTIV Germany reports.
-
Researchers: EU turns blind eye to slavery in Thai poultry industry
Migrants processing Thai chicken for its biggest export market, Europe, face widespread abuse by their employers, partly because foreign auditors have focused on food safety rather than workers' conditions, researchers said on Wednesday (25 November).
-
Fishy business in EU canteens exposed
Restaurants in Brussels are cheating customers by substituting cheaper fish in one out of three dishes, including under the noses of eurocrats in the European Union's own canteens, campaigners said yesterday (3 November).
-
Greenpeace study finds pesticides on 83% of non-organic apples
A Greenpeace study has shown that pesticide residue affects 83% of conventionally-produced German apples. EURACTIV Germany reports.
-
Malmström: We can finish TTIP during the Obama administration
The EU’s Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström was amazed at German criticism over the planned EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and emphasised its benefits in an interview with Tagesspiegel.
-
Germany’s digital security disparity ‘remains striking’
Germany shows significant discrepancies among private users with regard to protection against cyber attacks, a recent study shows, with internet users growing increasingly uneasy despite an improved security situation. EURACTIV Germany reports.
-
Lamy: TTIP’s goal is ‘to harmonise consumer protection’
Ex-World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy said on Thursday (7 May) that improved consumer protection was at the heart of the US-European Union free-trade pact under negotiation.
-
EU raids online retailers over cartel concerns
The European Commission said Tuesday (24 March) its officers had raided several companies involved in selling consumer electronics online, concerned that firms may have worked together to distort prices.
-
Foodwatch boss: ‘Europeans will not stomach TTIP anymore’
The EU-US free trade agreement, TTIP, is a big lie, says Thilo Bode, the director of the NGO Foodwatch, discussing his latest book on the transatlantic trade deal.
-
German study finds prevalence of prescriptions without benefit
Doctors in Germany often prescribe medications without any proof of additional benefit, a recent study indicates, revealing that the reasons behind this are unscientific. EURACTIV Germany reports.
-
Foodwatch: German TTIP study ‘utopian’
Consumer rights NGO foodwatch sharply criticised a German Development Ministry study on TTIP, saying the planned EU-US free trade agreement is a poverty scheme for the world’s poorest countries, and is an “interest-driven sham”. EURACTIV Germany reports.