Brussels, 10/03/2010 (Agence Europe) - With the Lisbon Treaty reaffirming consumer protection as a cross-cutting policy that is central to the European Union, the European Parliament feels it essential to beef up European consumer policy to make it more effective and tangible for consumers. It said as much in Strasbourg on Tuesday 9 March with its adoption of the own initiative report by Anna Hedh (S&D, Sweden), which recommends strengthening monitoring by means, for example, of the consumer markets scoreboard, which is felt to be particularly useful in gauging consumers' expectations and providing better information on the daily problems encountered.
MEPs said they were happy with the second scoreboard, presented on 28 January 2009, which, just like the previous year's, analysed the markets by means of five indicators (complaints, prices, satisfaction, switching and safety). They believe that these indicators provide a sound base for setting priorities and drawing conclusions as to where deeper analysis is required. They feel that it would be good to have criteria that make it able to assess how well goods and services meet the objective of sustainable development.
They propose that the Commission consider including in the scoreboard “additional long-term indicators such as those relating to market shares, quality, advertising, transparency and comparability of offers, indicators related to enforcement and consumer empowerment, social, environmental and ethical indicators, as well as indicators to measure redress and consumer detriment”. The Parliament repeats that the scoreboard should also “cover all the main categories of consumer expenditure, in order to identify the most problematic markets and set the ground for further, more detailed sector-specific analysis, in particular where evidence reveals problems common to different markets; calls, therefore, on the Commission and the member states to ensure adequate financing and staffing for the further development of the scoreboard”. It also welcomes the five priorities for action identified by the Commission in its communication of 2 July 2009 on the enforcement of the acquis communautaire. It states that it is crucial that market surveillance structures be improved and strengthened, along with mechanisms relating to the application and transposition of the legislation. It calls for market surveillance structures to be toughened up in all member states so that defective or dangerous goods can be rapidly removed from the market. Member states are urged to consider the benefits of introducing a Consumer Ombudsman. (A.N./transl.rt)