Brussels, 07/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - In 2010, European Consumer Centres (ECC) provided help and advice free-of-charge to 71,000 consumers disappointed with a purchase made in a different EU member state and wanting redress (repair or replacement of a faulty product or refunds and assistance from an airline when their flight was cancelled, for example). Publication on Monday 6 June of the 2010 Annual Report on ECCs for 2010 (covering ECCs in the 27 member states, Norway and Iceland) reveals that increasing numbers of consumers are making use of ECCs (15% more in 2010 than in 2009 and nearly 350,000 requests processed since the network was created in 2005).
In a press release, Health and Consumer Commissioner John Dalli commented: “The European Consumer Centres are a clear example of where the EU can have an added value for European citizens, because no single national organisation can - on its own - help consumers across the EU-wide market. I am happy that more and more consumers are aware of their services, use them and thanks to them solve their problems.”
The report shows that the most troublesome area is transport. In 2010, a third of complaints processed by the ECCs (33.2%) concerned airline passenger rights (largely due to Icelandic volcanic ash problems). In 2010, as in 2009, online purchases accounted for the lion's share of complaints (56% of the processed complaints, compared with 55.9% in 2009).
ECCs are jointly financed by the European Commission and the authorities of the countries in the ECC network. The report can be found at http: //ec.europa.eu/ecc-net.(A.N./transl.fl)