Brussels, 20 August 2006

EURO COOP welcomes the efforts undertaken by the Commission to develop the future European Consumer Policy Strategy. In particular, we appreciate the Commission's initiative to conduct an evaluation of the impact of the existing consumer policy strategy 2002-2006 and to consult consumer organisations.

We fear, however, that in the context of financial restraint for this area the Commission will not have the sufficient means to achieve the desirable goals.

We generally agree with the main issues pointed out in the consultation document and would have the following comments:

1. Main Challenges 2007-2013

EURO COOP believes that consumer education and information will remain priority challenges for the period 2007-2013. Indeed, as markets are becoming increasingly complex and competitive, we think that consumers must be educated in order to understand and to make a correct use of the information received from suppliers. Secondly, consumers have to be well-informed and to have an easy access to objective, clear and scientifically-based information in order to make well-informed choices. Consumer education and information should thus be addressed by the new strategy in order to improve the pro-activeness of consumers.

We also estimate that ethical issues have to be identified by the new strategy. Consumer co-operatives, for example, as democratically-controlled enterprises, continually integrate their members' interests in their daily policies and thus have always been dedicated to ethical issues such as Fair Trade and sustainable development. EURO COOP believes that such ethical issues need to be incorporated in the new consumer strategy as they are a growing concern for consumers.

Another main challenge is to achieve a true Single Market where consumers can effectively benefit from the added value of such market. Today there are still many barriers that prevent consumers to reap the promised benefits of economic integration. Essential services such as energy, telecommunications or financial services still lack the desired integration.

Electronic commerce and the internet may be a booming issue for the next years and we expect consumers to have some problems related to those technologies. The Commission should keep a close eye on these issues and try to ensure an adequate protection for consumers. Given the nature of such technologies, the Commission should lead efforts to try to tackle the problems at a global level.

2. Objectives

EURO COOP agrees with the objectives set out by the Commission, namely the effective application of consumer protection rules and a high level of consumer protection, notably through a better representation of consumers' interests. In this respect, we think that the Commission should continue to stimulate the development of consumer organisations. The Commission should take into account the specific role of consumer cooperatives which have the efficiency and the experience to contribute to a better protection of consumers' interests.

Bigger efforts should be made to stimulate the creation and development of alternative dispute resolution systems which offer the consumer a quicker and cheaper way of redress.

3. New Member States

EURO COOP welcomes the initiative from the DG SANCO not to develop a separate strategy for the new Member States but to particularly emphasize on the special needs of the new Member States. We believe that consumers in new Member States sometimes have to face serious problems. The answer to these problems should be found in the framework of the strategy, namely through the improvement of consumer information and education. Also, the Commission should give support to initiatives which are consumer led such as the establishment and development of consumer associations but also of consumer cooperatives. We would welcome any initiative from the Commission supporting the development of consumer co-operatives in new Member States.

4. Better understanding of consumers and markets

EURO COOP agrees with the main priorities set up by the Commission in order to better understand consumers and markets, namely to develop and gather evidence to support the consumer protection regulation, and the development of indicators and benchmarks. In this framework, we think that in order to improve the evidence base, the Commission should develop better indicators, which would better assess the efficiency of consumer policies undertaken, but also increase the number and the scope of consultations.

5. Better consumer protection regulation

We believe that the Commission should bear in mind the fact that the EU Constitution could be an issue that will return to the political agenda in the coming period 2007-13. In this context EURO COOP believes this could present an opportunity to review the legal base for consumer protection which is, in our view, not appropriate. We support the views expressed by the Economic and Social Committee in a recent own-initiative opinion on this matter (INT/263 20 April 2006).

6. Better informed and educated consumers

European consumers do not always know their rights, not only in their domestic country but also in the other Member States. In particular, consumers from the new Member States are not always conscious of their rights and thus have to be better informed and educated in order to get to know their rights and how to claim them. Therefore, we believe that information and education in new Member States should be a priority in the new programme.

Although education is still a competence of the Member States, we feel that the European Commission could play an active role in trying to insert these issues in national curricula. Also, the Commission should support or conduct projects that have a long-term strategy to help teachers and schools to cope with this subject (e. g. teacher training). In this respect consumer associations play a major role since they can sometimes offer the expertise necessary to develop the interest of schools and teachers in consumer education.

7. International aspects of consumer policy

EURO COOP estimates that several priorities should be set up for the actions at the international level. Firstly, as consumers continually keep showing their interest for ethical issues, we believe that DG SANCO should incorporate in the new programme issues related to Fair Trade and sustainable development. Those issues are particularly important since they are a way to bridge the gap between producers in less developed countries and consumers. EURO COOP and its members, for example, have always committed themselves to support Fair Trade and sustainable products and would be glad to offer help in this issue.

Also, certain issues like e-commerce, food chain controls, disease prevention, among others, have a global nature and thus cannot be tackled solely by the European Union or by countries alone. The Commission should develop efforts to improve international cooperation in consumer protection for those issues which have a global nature.

DGSANCO should also try to ensure that consumer protection issues are adequately integrated in other policy areas such as international trade to ensure coherence and effectiveness of the rules.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
RODRIGO GOUVEIA - SECRETARY GENERAL
Tel.: +32. (0)2.285.00.70 Fax: +32. (0)2.231.07.57
E-mail: infoateurocoop.coop