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Reports and Memo's
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Brussels, october 1995
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Decisive years for european consumer protection
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Foreword
Many years efforts made by the European consumer organisations with the strong support of the European Parliament, helped to obtain the proviso in the Single Act (Article 100(a)(3)), that the European Commission in its proposals on health, safety, environment protection and consumer protection, « will » take as a base a high level of protection.
It is thanks to the endeavours of the Commission, those of the European Parliament and the outstanding activities of the European consumer organisations that a « high level of consumer protection » was expressly included as a political objective in the Treaty on the European Union. Up until then numerous Council resolutions had already been adopted starting with the First Programme of the European Economic Community for a Consumer Protection and Information Policy of 14 April 1975 up until the Council Resolution of 1986 on the Integration of Consumer Policy in the various Community policies. However these declarations of intent entailed no effective commitment and that is why there has been no real integration of the consumer policy into the single policies so far.
The Inter-Governmental Conference of 1996 on the revision of the Treaty on the European Union is fast approaching. Already following the signing of the Treaty of Maestricht the industry press queried whether Article 129 (a) (consumer protection) was really necessary. Meanwhile given the harsher competitive climate of the economy, louder cries are being heard for the reduction of environment and consumer protection. Thus the frightening question already arises - in view of the Molitor Report - as to whether what has already been achieved « on paper » regarding consumer protection, will in future be maintained. The Molitor Report envisages a « simplification » of existing directives. Moreover in the dispute concerning « subsidiarity », some of the acquired consumer rights at European level could be lost. Finally, the Council has, every year, systematically reduced the budget heading for consumer policy but the European Parliament, thankfully, has always had the heading reinstated. Nevertheless for 1996, the Commission itself is proposing a 10% decrease and even a 50% cut in financial support for the European consumer organisations.
This brochure deals with the efforts undertaken to obtain a better protection of the consumers' interests. It reports on harmonization procedures in the field of food and veterinary legislation in 1995 and closely examines the pending problems towards obtaining an adequate level of consumer protection and information. This applies in particular to the Common Agricultural Policy(CAP) and its impact on the quality of foodstuffs as well as residues and the consequences for the environment and human beings. It is also to be viewed as a summary of a series of « studies » carried out by EURO COOP in 1995 in the interest of protecting consumer rights. In the Annex (point V.) can be found the list of EURO COOP written Opinions issued so far in 1995.
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[ TABLE OF CONTENTS ]
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